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The Marriage Feast
The Lord wants to draw us closer to Him in this hour. He is saying some things to us now:
There is the ELECT CHURCH,
and yet out of the church is the ELECT BRIDE,
and out of the bride come THE SONS!
The Bible says the marriage of the Lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready! In Revelation 19:7, John said,
"Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made HERSELF ready."
There is IMPUTED righteousness that God has put in you and me, and there is a righteousness that God EXPECTS you and me to perform. I don't mean out of our strength, but everything we do has to be by the Spirit of God. In the little epistle of John, it speaks about the "works of righteousness" three times.
The bride has made herself ready and verse 8 says,
"And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE SAINTS."
This means the righteous acts or the righteous deeds of the saints, so we have something to do! God has something to do, but WE HAVE SOMETHING TO DO, TOO. Verse 9 reads:
"Blessed are they that are called to the MARRIAGE SUPPER of the Lamb. And He said unto me, these are the true saints of God."
The New Jerusalem...
In Revelation 21:2, John is seeing the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven. Notice, it is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The husband is Jesus. The bridegroom is Jesus. But Jesus is not married to a physical city. He is not married to brick and mortar -- he is married to you and me!
I know people who have all kinds of visions of this city coming on top of us -- a big giant city -- but I want to tell you what he is saying in this verse about this city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a BRIDE adorned for her HUSBAND.
In verse 9, the Bible tells us when this is going to happen. Many have never noticed this verse, even though they have read it:
"And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials..."
That is, bowl judgments. Now, notice that one of these angels that have these seven vials, full of the seven last plagues:
"...talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife."
Notice that before the bowl judgments are poured out, and before destruction really comes on the earth, or at the same time, the Bible is saying he is going to show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.
Chapter 15:8, "And the temple was filled with the smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled."
Chapter 16:1, "And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth."
Now, God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain full salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ!
In Chapter 21:9, when one of these seven angels comes who had these vials of judgments, they said to him,
"Come hither, I am going to SHOW thee the bride, the Lamb's wife."
So he saw this BEFORE the bowl judgments came upon the earth. Now, it is at that time of the judgment that this is going to come forth.
In verse 10, "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God."
The Bride...
But look back in verse 9. What is she called? THE BRIDE, THE LAMB'S WIFE!
In Chapter 19:7, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his WIFE hath MADE herself ready."
So that WIFE, that city, that bride is not brick and mortar, it is a PEOPLE.
--There is the Church of
Jesus today coming forth, and
--there is the body of Jesus coming forth,
--there is the bride of Jesus coming forth,
--there (are) the obedient
ones that are coming forth,
--the
ones that are led by the Holy Spirit, and
--the
SONS OF GOD ARE COMING FORTH!
The marriage feast is right now! The marriage feast is going on right now! It is not when we go to heaven. It is going on right now this day. Most people are waiting till they get to heaven, and have some long table with green beans and mashed potatoes, and all that, and we have a big cup coming around, and everybody is going to drink of it! But the thing is, the marriage feast is going on right now. Let us go to Matthew 22:1-3:
"And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son..."
The king is God. He is king today -- the marriage feast, a wedding, a marriage matrimony or a marriage festival, or a wedding banquet -- "for his son." The son is Jesus!
"And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden (invited) to the wedding, and THEY WOULD NOT COME."
People are so busy today, they don't have time for Jesus. They have time for everyone in this hour, but they don't have time for Jesus. If you want to be in this wedding feast, you have to take some time with Jesus. Hallelujah!
One message, and three thousand came!
Souls are important. It is important to have people saved -- filled with the Holy Ghost -- delivered and all of that. We believe all of that. But the Holy Ghost can do more in five minutes, than we can do in a hundred years.
God never told us to march down, and knock on every door and say, "Now, come on down to this fellowship and get saved." If God tells you, that's different. But many just strike out and do their thing, and the Holy Ghost is not in it. But Peter got up on the day of Pentecost, preached one message, and THREE THOUSAND PEOPLE CAME! Why? Because he was anointed by the Holy Ghost, and God's Spirit drew the people to Jesus! It is not by works of righteousness which we do. It is not by our effort. It is not by might, nor by power, but by the Holy Ghost, and that's all that is going to count in this hour. Praise the Lord!
Now, I believe in winning souls; I believe we should all do that. I believe the young people in the Lord should have a zeal for that; I believe the old should have a zeal for that, but unless God is directing, it is just you doing it. I have seen it happen over and over in churches; people have a zeal for God, but God is not telling them to do a lot of (the) things they are doing. And we can fall into that same category.
Time with Jesus...
We need to spend some time with Jesus! We need to spend some time in prayer and fasting, and worship in the Master 's presence.
Now, it says He sent forth these servants that were bidden to the wedding, and THEY WOULD NOT COME. The majority of Christians today are not in the wedding feast, because they are doing 'their thing.' I'm including ministers -- I'm including people.
Next in verse 4, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner..."
What do people see when they read this? They are thinking of a big old steak dinner, mashed potatoes and green beans, and big old rolls with butter, roast beef, whatever.
He said, "I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready..."
Now look at that: "all things are ready: come to the marriage."
All you have to do is come! All the provision is there. Jesus is saying, "If you come, you can sit at my table, you can partake, the provision has been provided, but you have got to come to my table.
What are most people saying? "Well, I don't have time. I don't have time..."
Excuses!
Now, look at verse 5, where it said that they made light of it, but who is speaking in this whole chapter? The LORD JESUS IS SPEAKING -- He's the one doing the talking!
"But they made light of it, and went THEIR WAYS, one to his farm, another to his merchandise..."
Luke tells us one other excuse, which was that the man got married. The Lord showed me three things: You've got a farm, you have merchandise, and you have one getting married, that is, FOOD, FORTUNE AND FAMILY. If we are not overeating or making money, it is the family! All three things can keep us out of this marriage feast. It can hinder us from the presence of God, and moving into that realm of God.
Now, a man that farms plows the earth. The EARTH speaks of earthly things, carnal things. These are binding him and keeping him from the marriage feast. Notice that a farm has fields. People get caught up in the work of the Lord, mission fields, in raising money, or whatever it may be, but these are nothing compared to what they have been CALLED to do! Their attention is on something else besides what God is calling them to do. Their desire is for farming, their desire is for merchandising, their desire is for family. It is not for God. Now, of all those three, there is nothing wrong with any of them in their place, but they are putting them all ahead of God.
The seed has to die...
We are not talking about sinners here. We are talking about the Kingdom of God; we are talking about Christians, ministers to God, the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit. We're talking about a people coming into the Kingdom of God. And when He speaks of merchandising, see Revelation 18. We see it on the television. Don't be swallowed up in that -- some of these titles and some of the things they have put out to get people's money is terrible. Do you know the seed has to die? We say the seed is just sowing our money. Well, that's part of it. We need to give to the Kingdom of God, but it is more than putting your money into something -- putting your money in the pot. God wants YOU in the pot! The seed has to die. This means YOU! Paul, the apostle, speaking about the ministers of the Lord, said in 2nd Corinthians 4, we are always carried unto death, but you -- it is life for you. There is somebody going to have to die. There is seed that has to die!
Jesus was THE SEED THAT DIED, but YOU AND I have to become that seed. If that seed is in US, that seed is going to lead us to death, that the Life can come forth to flow out to others. It is more than your money. It is YOU!
And the souls of men...
Rev. 18:12-13 is speaking of the merchandise of gold and silver and all of that, and he comes down to verse 13, and says, "AND SOULS OF MEN." Merchandising for the souls of men! There are "iniquity drives" in us, and in the church -- they want a fortune. The love of money is still the root of all evil. This people that Jesus spoke of were so involved in acts of merchandising, that they refused to go to the wedding feast. So don't be suckered into sending in your hundreds of thousands in pledges. Know that the Holy Ghost is telling you where to put your money. Hallelujah! A while back, I was shocked by a brother who knew better, who was putting his money in one of those kinds of ministries. I couldn't believe it when he said he was putting his money in one of those ministries. You look at the situation and you see witchcraft coming across that TV. You see the lies being projected across that television. Don't you run up there and put your hand on that television, when somebody says put your hand up there. And don't put your feet on those charts they send you to put your feet on. That is witchcraft. I'm not saying all of it is, but a lot of it is, and don't get their holy rocks and their holy water. God is going to cause a lot of them to repent, or many of them are going to die and perish, because they are taking souls to hell or out of the earth due to deception.
The old thinking...
We know the old thinking is that Jesus is going to come and take us out of here for seven years, and we are going to be at that big table up there in the sky; the earth is going to be burned up, and Jesus is going to bring us back after everything is burned up. But God called a people to A WEDDING FEAST, and they were too busy to go into God's presence and spend time with Jesus! But somebody says, "Well, they just refused to be raptured, because the wedding feast is the rapture!" That's what they are saying. No! He wasn't even talking about a rapture.
A rapture has nothing to do with this wedding feast in Matthew. It is not a rapture. It is a wedding feast! The wedding feast is down here on earth, else God would have to rapture them out of earth into heaven, and then throw them out of heaven!
Verse 6 of Matthew 22, "And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them."
The sons of God...
This is where we are now with the sons of God. Do you know that the sons of God message is hated today? This manchild message is hated -- this overcoming message is hated, and people are coming against it, but that is all right. The Bible tells us they would. Now, people can kill you more with their words than with a knife! They can destroy your reputation in a city.
God sent me to a city twice to start a group, and I know that people hated me and rejected me, and they still talk against me, because of this message that God put in me years ago. But they will destroy your effect in a community or whatever, and it is designed that way, because they hate this message, since we are not preaching that we are "flying off," but we are preaching we are staying here. Hallelujah!
And now in verse 7, "But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth..." (You know, vengeance belongs to God, not to us.) "...and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."
In verse 8, "The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden WERE NOT WORTHY."
They were not worthy, so to be in this wedding feast, you have got to be made worthy. How are you made worthy?
In Luke 21:36, Jesus said, "Watch ye therefore and pray always THAT ye may be accounted WORTHY TO ESCAPE ALL THESE THINGS (that is, the judgments) that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."
That is the manchild people right there. Watch and pray ALWAYS. Hallelujah! You cannot be made worthy unless you are VIGILANT, or WATCHING and PRAYING!
How many ever pray that prayer, "Lord, preserve me; help me to be worthy to stand in this hour, and when the judgments fall on the left and right, let them not touch me and my house." We have the right to pray that.
Now, back in Matthew 22, we see the wedding feast again is taking place right here upon the earth. The call went out to them; they refused his call, and isn't that going to be something, when many find that door slammed in their face? They are expecting the rapture, and the door is slammed in their face. The multitudes looking for a rapture, singing every Sunday, "I'll fly away." Let them sing it; they aren't flying anywhere unless they die, and if they die, they are going to heaven if they know Jesus. But he said right here in verses 8 and 9:
"The wedding is ready, but they that were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good."
The Lord showed me that He can turn the bad into good! They were rejects. Remember the thieves on the cross? There were two of them and they were bad -- the Son of God right in the midst! In five seconds, one repented; we would say turned to the Lord, and He said, "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise."
I say "rejects," because if you read in Luke's account, chapter 14, it's a little different, in verse 21:
"So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." (That can be those in the physical, as well as those in the spirit.) "And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded, and yet there is room."
Now look at verse 24:
"For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper."
My supper! They aren't going to get any supper.
"I stand at the door and knock..."
In Revelation 3:20, let me show you that this is going on now:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
That actually means to "dine out," to have a meal with him. We know it's not beans and potatoes! It's Jesus coming into you, and communicating with you and you with him. Hallelujah! There is a communion and fellowship and intimacy. And when is that going on? In the millenium or now? RIGHT NOW. That word "sup" is really just like the word "supper." So the supper is taking place NOW, if we invite Him in. Come on, now! If we communicate with Him! Notice what Jesus said:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him..."
Now, who's going to eat first? The Lord is going to sup first before you eat. I'm going to sup with Him, and he's going to sup with me. Now in Luke 17: 7-8:
"But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink."
This is the Master of the house. Who's going to eat first? The Lord's going to eat first. Do you see that? That's a lot different than the gospel we are hearing today. "Gimme, gimme, gimme, my name is Jimmy."
Awake!
Now, go to Song of Solomon 4:16:
"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits."
The north wind and the south wind, when you get them both blowing; that is, the tornadic winds -- when you get them both to blowing -- blow upon my garden! In our immaturity, it is our garden. The spices here are the fruit -- that the nine fruits of the spirit may flow out! First, there is the BLOW, then there is the FLOW!
"Let my beloved come into his garden..." (and notice what he is going to do) "...eat his pleasant fruits..."
...which means you have to set him a table, and the only table that you can set for him is that NATURE and CHARACTER and SUBSTANCE that He has put IN YOU... that quality of life that he has put in you, He will partake of. He will not partake of fleshly, carnal desires or any of that stuff! So we have to set a table for Jesus.
The Consummation of the Wedding Feast
Now, turn to Luke 12. There is a wedding feast going on right now, between you and the Lord, but there will be a consummation of the wedding feast. Here in Luke 12, verse 35:
"Let your loins (that's the reproductive area, the area of strength) be girded about and your lights burning."
He is the Light of the world, and yet he is turning around and saying we are the light of the world.
Verse 25, "And ye yourselves are like unto men that WAlT FOR THEIR LORD, when he will return FROM the wedding..."
He's been in the wedding feast, and now he's returning at the end of this wedding feast, and yet somebody now is READY to receive him.
"...that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him IMMEDIATELY."
Do you know who those are? They are people that have been in the tribulation, right there. Hallelujah!
Now, turn to Luke 11: 5-7. Here is a picture of the wedding feast, the consummation of it right here, in verse 5:
"Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: THE DOOR IS NOW SHUT."
At this time, the door is shut. Somebody is on the inside of that door, and somebody is on the outside of that door. The ones that yielded to Him, the ones that wanted Him are on the inside of that door. Hallelujah! But there is somebody that is wanting to get in!
In that rest...
"Trouble me not: The door is now shut and my children (the scripture shows those are the sons of God) are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee."
This means that they are in a place of rest; they are in a place of intimacy, and yet somebody wants to come in that door. We are talking about the sons of God here. The sons of God are in that marriage feast with the Lord. They are in that rest. They are in that intimacy, that communion, that union with the Lord, and yet, somebody is wanting some bread.
How many loaves do they want? Three loaves. You have got to have three loaves for midnight -- SPIRIT, SOUL, BODY -- like unto the feast of passover, the feast of pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles.
A wedding feast...
Go back to Matthew 22:10:
"...and the wedding was furnished with guests."
They went out the second time -- the first time, people turned it down.
Verse 11: "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:"
Notice that the King comes in. Inspection time is right here. The king is coming in to look over this wedding feast -- the people that are there. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man which had not on a wedding garment.
In the Jewish wedding, when you came in the door, you were given water to wash your hands and your body, and they put a wedding garment upon you, because you were invited to the wedding. And remember this, the Jewish wedding feast was always before the wedding! Now, in our time, it is the wedding and the feast is afterward, but in the Jewish religion, the feast came first and then the wedding. Now, we are in the wedding feast. Hallelujah! And in the consummation, He is going to have a spotless bride that he is going to be married to, because the Bible says, "The Spirit and the bride say, come." Now, in this verse, it says he sees one that doesn't have on a wedding garment.
Watch and pray...
Revelation 3:3-4, "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy."
We were told a while ago that we were to watch and pray. I want you to know He is talking not to sinners, but to the church. Many are called, but few are chosen. These are the OVERCOMERS. They have not soiled their garments, or have dirty garments on. He said there are a few of you that have clean garments on, that is, righteousness, holy living.
As he comes into this marriage feast, God is going to inspect this crowd. He sees a man that had not on a wedding garment. If he didn't have on a wedding garment, he couldn't come through the door, because when the Jews had a marriage, as you came in the door, they would give you water to wash with and a garment to put on. Now, you know that if a man climbs up any other way, he is a thief and a robber, and this isn't heaven. If it was heaven, the Lord would have had to rapture this man to heaven and thrown him out of heaven. That would not make sense. This shows us that the wedding feast is taking place now, here on the earth! No way would the Lord rapture a person to heaven and then throw him out!
Verse 14, "And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servant, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called but few are chosen."
In the furnace of fire!
We are chosen in the furnace of fire, and that in many ways. The call went out and people turned down the wedding feast. Now, these are people that the call went out to, who knew Jesus. The church is the "called-out ones," -- the ekklesia -- and yet,
OUT OF THE CHURCH COMES FORTH A BODY, AND
OUT OF THE BODY COMES FORTH A BRIDE, AND
OUT OF THE BRIDE COMES FORTH THE SONS!
The sons are part of the bride, part of the body, and part of the church! Now, the door we know is Christ. Praise the Lord! We have to come through the Door!
The ten virgins...
Jesus said in Matthew 25:1, "The kingdom of heaven shall be likened unto ten virgins."
There are seven things about these ten virgins:
1. They are "virgins," which means spiritually, they are clean Christians who have the righteousness of God. All ten are saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost -- whether you believe it or not!
2. Number 5 is the number of the wise and foolish ministries. You have a wise ministry and a foolish ministry at the end of the age. God has given me a scripture in Proverbs 21:20:
"There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up."
Jesus is the treasure. So you have a wise and a foolish there. Turn to Ephesians 5:13:
"But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light."
It takes oil to make a light in the New Testament.
(Verse) 14, "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."
Notice here if you are sleeping, you are in bed, and Christ, the anointed One, will give you light.
"See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools (foolish virgins), but as wise..."
This means that you come out of your sleep and rise from the dead, and Christ is going to fill your lamp with oil and you will HAVE SOME LIGHT, arid verse 16 says:
"Redeeming the TIME, because the days are EVIL."
That darkness is increasing! You had better have the light, or have the oil, (for) you are not going to make it without it! How are you going to get the oil?
We go back to the seven things (we have the first two):
3. The LAMPS are man's spirit.
4. The VESSEL is the soul. Your vessel is your soul.
5. The OIL is the Holy Ghost -- He is filling your vessel and your lamp with oil. It is the holy anointing oil of Christ -- THE ANOINTED ONE -- that is coming into you.
6. The BRIDEGROOM is Christ --Jesus Christ.
7. It is MIDNIGHT, the darkest hour that is coming on the face of the earth.
The firstfruit company...
Now look at Matthew 25:1. There is part of the church that is not going to make this "first fruit company:"
"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom (the bridegroom is Jesus). And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. And they that were foolish took their lamps, and TOOK NO OIL WITH THEM. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were READY went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut."
So some did not make it into this "firstfruit company." They took no extra supply of oil with them. The soul nature of the foolish was not changed, because your lamp is your spirit. Remember, the wise took oil in their lamp -- their spirit -- oil in their soul or vessel, but the foolish only had oil in their lamp, not in their vessel.
Understand this: the soul nature of the foolish was not changed. They were so involved and so busy, there was no life to the soul. There was no LIFE IN THEIR SOUL! Most Christians today need more life energy in the soul. They have locked souls; their souls have been locked against the Holy Ghost. They will not obey the Holy Ghost!
Need more oil...
Yes, they are saved; they may have been baptized in the Holy Ghost; they may speak in tongues and prophesy, but they go back home and are the same way -- they have the same lifestyle, there is no change, there is no difference. You see the same thing. Do you know why? They REFUSE TO OBEY THE HOLY GHOST! This is a strong statement. There is no change in the soul of man, because they shut the Holy Ghost out! They let Him go so far and then they cut Him off. There is no storage of extra oil in the soul!
The enemy wants to hit you and he wants to hit me! He wants to get you out of the spirit. If you get out of the spirit, and you don't have an extra supply of oil, what is in you is going to COME OUT! (I was shocked the other day when a word came out of my mouth like THAT! And I said, Lord, I haven't said something like that in years! But God was trying to show me that I need some more oil in my soul!) The devil knows if we ever get in the spirit, he is no match for you and me -- in the Holy Ghost! But if you are out of the spirit, and he does hit you, you've got to have a storage in you, so that your emotions won't act the wrong way; your mouth won't get overloaded with words. Because if you get hit and you are not in the spirit, and you don't have that EXTRA STORAGE IN YOUR SOUL, you are going to cuss like a trooper. I have heard Christians who will blurt out just like a machine gun, and yet they could talk about Jesus, they love Jesus, they witness for Jesus, they live for God, and yet they could cuss like a drunken sailor. Is God glorified in that?
Here is what it is! Our emotions are out of control, because we do not have that oil in the soul! The soul is your MIND and EMOTIONS and DESIRES. The virgins will be out there where it's at! Do you know why? The Bible said the virgins were sent out in the darkest hour to buy this oil. It is midnight? We are not playing games today. For the five foolish virgins, there is no storage of oil in the soul -- no power in their souls.
Time with Jesus...
How do we store up oil or power in the soul? How do we do that? BY SPENDING TIME WITH JESUS, by spending time in this MARRIAGE FEAST WITH THE LAMB, and by giving way to the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit moves you (or) speaks to you, you obey Him. It doesn't really matter whether you were Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal or whatever you were, or whatever I was; it doesn't really matter, I know now that we are in an hour that we have got to give way to the Holy Ghost, regardless (of) what man thinks or says. Hallelujah! It is going to be our reaction, whether we know the way we are hit and the way we react; whether we know God is going to work in our soul.
Those in the ministry...
Look at James 3:1, "My brethren, be not many masters (that word means teachers), knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation."
Those in the ministry are going to have the greater condemnation, if they don't do right.
(Verse) 2, "For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body."
The word "perfect" means mature or complete, or a full age man. How many are in a perfect state today, where they don't say anything that hinders or hurts or harms anybody -- a perfect or mature person, where God is in control of their EMOTIONS, their MIND, their WILL, or their DESIRES? "They are no longer mine, they are His." lt is a total yielding to God. If we are not careful, and someone says the wrong thing, we will react the wrong way.
You may get up in church and prophecy loud and clear about the word of the Lord, and go home and have a fuss with your wife or your husband before you have your dinner. It is so easy to do if you just yield to that old spirit. Before you come into the church door, you have got to be careful that you don't get into a fuss with your wife or husband. You have to keep your spirit, and if you don't, you will bring that spirit with you. When I am going to preach, I want my heart to be clean. If I am going to prophecy, I want my heart to be right. Otherwise, that stuff will come right out through me.
Spiritual life...
Look in John 6:53-56, "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."
Jesus is speaking of spiritual things here.
63-66: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him."
They could not take that saying, "You must eat my flesh and drink my blood." And yet, Jesus was talking about SPIRITUAL LIFE from Him. Hear this! (And isn't it strange in John 6:66, there is an apostasy right there?)
Behold, the bridegroom cometh!
So we have got to have some extra life, the life of Jesus, his flesh, his blood, for midnight. That is why we go to the wedding feast NOW! That is why we get prepared now, because the cry will come, "BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH!" The cry is coming at midnight. The bridegroom is coming -- get ready. Go you out to meet him. It is a dark time!
Look at Daniel 12:1; Jesus quoted this in the New Testament. Here is midnight -- here is the dark hour -- here is tribulation.
"At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be DELIVERED, every one that shall be found written in the book."
The word "delivered" means preserved, so somebody is going to be preserved at midnight. Somebody is going to be preserved when the tribulation breaks out upon the earth. So, the CONSUMMATION OF THE MARRIAGE and the MANCHILD COMING FORTH is the same. The wedding feast, that we are in right now, is a union with Christ. It is a feeding upon Jesus Christ -- He is the bread of life! So there is the marriage of the Lamb. There is midnight and destruction.
God is holding it back...
In Revelation 7:1, we see right here that the consummation at midnight, the marriage of the Lamb and destruction are all together:
"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."
We know there may be four corners of the natural earth, but there are four corners to OUR earth -- our MIND, WILL, EMOTIONS and DESIRES. Now, the reason the angels are holding back this destruction -- man has the capability to kill and destroy the whole world -- is because God's holding it back. God is holding it back till the proper time. GOD IS HOLDING IT BACK! And so, these four angels are on the four corners of the earth holding the four WINDS of the earth (notice, the four WINDS of the earth), "that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor the sea, nor on any tree."
You know that there is a wind blast from the bomb, and yet, there is the wind of the Holy Ghost, and there is the natural wind. Notice, "four winds of the earth."
(Verse) 2, "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea."
You think of an angel as descending -- this one is ascending from the EAST. He is coming from light bringing light. He has got the SEAL OF THE LIVING GOD! Now, an angel is a messenger that is sealing God's people with a message! Notice, "with a seal of the Living God" -- it is LIFE. Life is going to seal us, where we are going to eat of his blood -- his flesh --that's life!
Now the earth is the carnal man -- carnal realm; the sea is the nations; the trees are Christians. We know that there is the natural out here, but also, trees were trees of righteousness. "Don't you hurt the earth, don't you hurt the carnal realm, don't you hurt the nations, don't you hurt the Christians, until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." And that little word "we" is a minister arising up out of the earth! It is US ascending, coming up out of the earth, coming up into the heavenlies. Hallelujah!
A message...
He has a message that is going to seal us, that is, a ministry. I believe this is the sons of God there. I know it says angels, but angels are messengers. They are messengers. John the Baptist was a "messenger" -- the same word for an "angel." John saw an angel in Revelation, and yet, he said he was a prophet. Thank God, we do have angels behind us backing us up, but notice, these servants were sealed in their FOREHEADS. That means the MIND OF CHRIST.
So this will be the time of this MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB, which will reach its climax in the coming of Christ. The coming of Christ is INSIDE US!
We see this in 2nd Thessalonians 1. He's coming as a thief, and then He is coming to judge. You have to see two comings. Most people just see one, but you have to see Jesus coming IN you, as well as out there in the air. When he comes from the wedding, he is going to open to them -- that's going to be after the tribulation -- there's going to be people that are being brought through the tribulation, that heavy time, that hard time, and they will come up on the other side, and they will be WILLING to open up to Jesus! It is going to take something hard to get people's attention in this hour. People are too busy going their own way, doing their own thing and not obeying the Holy Ghost.
The coming of the Lord...
2nd Thessalonians 1:6-7, "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels."
We are talking about the coming of the Lord -- we are talking about the tribulation, about people that are in trouble. He said, "You rest with us." Here's how he is coming:
(Verse) 8, "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ..."
He is coming as judge now!
(Verse) 9, "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power..."
Now here is another coming in verse 10:
"When he shall come to be glorified IN his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day."
You have this outward coming, where he is going to judge out there, but yet, on the other hand, He shall come to be glorified IN his saints. He is coming in us as a thief, but He is coming in glory and splendor out there to judge! We saw this in Luke 12:36:
"And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him IMMEDIATELY."
In the margin, it says, "marriage feast." What follows the marriage feast? A wedding! Then He is going to return from the wedding feast:
"when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately."
So, this time, they are going to be open to (him) -- they are going to want him. They turned him down first.
(Verse) 37, "Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find WATCHING: verily I say unto you, he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them."
Praise God!
The overshadowing of Mary
Now, the overshadowing of Mary took place before her public wedding ceremony -- the Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary. That took place before she was married to Joseph. She was engaged to Joseph, so there was an overshadowing of the Holy Ghost over her, before the actual wedding. But Mary also BELIEVED. Turn to Matthew 25:10:
"But while they" (the foolish virgins who were saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost) went to buy..."
Did you know the word "buy" means redeemed -- He redeemed us, He bought us! And yet, they are going out to buy him. You know, He is the oil. They didn't have oil in their vessel --their soul -- for midnight. While they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready WENT IN!
This is a consummation of this wedding feast. Who went in?
They are the wise.
They are the sons of God.
They
are the first fruits unto God!
They
are people who have their lamps full of oil.
They have oil in their soul, and, at midnight, they are going into Jesus. They are not being thrown out there where trouble is!
I am not talking about the rapture, now. They are going into the Lord in a consummating of this WEDDING FEAST -- they that went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut! Again, somebody is in the inside, and somebody is on the outside.
(Verse) 11, "Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us."
What does it mean to say, "Lord, Lord?" It means you must obey. He said, Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?
They cried, "OPEN TO US!"
(Verse) 12, "But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not (that means intimately)."
(Verse) 13, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day or the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."
Now, there is a coming in verse 10 -- not the literal coming -- it is Christ coming in you; it is the manchild caught to the throne. (Revelation 12:5 is the same experience. The manchild is caught up into God). That is the same experience as we see in verse 10, here. Hallelujah!
Understand this...
The manchild caught up to the throne is the same as in verse 10, right here. It is NOT the literal coming of Jesus, like some people teach, because it won't be until these foolish virgins get out there and get that oil, get in tribulation, get out in destruction and get some oil -- get ready for his literal coming! And when He comes from the wedding, He will knock and they will be READY to open up to Him! Hallelujah!
It's a coming, all right! It is a coming within you and within me. It is not a rapture, a taking off the earth. Praise God!
The door was shut! When he has got his bride, he is going to close the door. Jesus wants a people He can come in and work through in human flesh, not by fleshly works, but THROUGH you and me, before he comes in His flesh again!
The old teaching...
Now, in the old teaching, I was taught we go to heaven for seven years, and have that big table up there, and come back after the earth is burnt up! But the wedding feast is going on now. The consummation of it will be when the fullness of Christ comes into us at midnight, and we enter into that realm of power! We have a measure of power, but the Church does not have the power we need. Midnight is going to bring that power into a people -- the power of God -- the real power.
That "entering in" is in Matthew 25:10:
1. The same as the manchild caught up to the throne.
2. It is the same as the two witnesses receiving power.
3. It is the same as those in bed with Jesus that we read of in Luke. It is a people in love with Jesus. They have an intimacy, a fellowship, a union with Him.
They are not out there playing games. They are not saying, "Well, I need to take care of my farm, or, "Lord, I've got to make merchandise of your people," or, "Lord, I have got to get married." No! There is nothing wrong with those things in their place. We have to work; God does put us in a marriage; we may have to farm some land, but the thing is, they cannot be first.
JESUS HAS TO BE FIRST!
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