Ready for the Rapture

I find the Lord never ends a dispensation without giving it a closing worthy of Himself. How beautiful it is in Luke to find hearts brimful of God's thoughts, and looking out for the Messiah. Mary and Elizabeth talk of Him, and His ear is near to hear, as in Mal. 3:16. If Christ acts now as He always acts, we may expect, despite all the ruin, to have some with whom the Spirit can say to Him, "Come.”
What is the great thing that we have to do in our day? To live for Christ. People have a vague idea of living for the glory of God, but the only way of living for the glory of God is to have the love that is in Christ's heart so dwelling in us, as it dwelt in the soul of the Apostle Paul, that he said that "Christ shall be magnified in my body." Phil. 1:20.
Is that my earnest expectation and hope? If I am living for myself, those around must see that the light is marred, and does not shine out. They might say of me, "If all the light that shines out is the measure of the Christ that shines in, He must have very little." But more than living as a testimony to others, I should want to shine for Christ. It is the One whose love has never passed from me for a single moment who wants me to live for Him whatever comes.
It is impossible to go through this world without suffering. You may choose which kind of suffering you will have—suffering for Christ, or suffering for yourself. If you are living for Christ, you will suffer for Him. If you are living for yourself, you will have God's rod close behind you.
Lot had God's mark, as did Abraham. God had not forgotten Lot any more than He had Abraham, but which of their troubles was it better to have? Is it better to have one's heart tried as Abraham's was, or to be chastened as Lot was?
Abraham's son was the center of the promises. Would he reckon that God was the keeper of the promise and not himself? Would he trust God to make good His promise, while God was teaching and testing his heart? Yes! And can I not say, "O, Lord Jesus, give me Abraham's trial and his portion, and not Lot's trial and his portion"?
My conviction is that it is the mind and purpose of God to make as complete a split between flesh and Spirit in these last days as He did in the days of Pentecost. The question is, who is living for Christ and who is not? If your heart is set on Christ, you will have the enjoyment of Christ before He comes, and you will meet His face with joy.
The Father's thought is that as His Christ is up there absolutely for us, He will have us here absolutely for Him. Say in your heart: "Through His grace, I will work out what He has worked in; I will live to the Christ whose eye is looking down from heaven on me. I will make apparent to others the One for whom I live." Young Christian
Questions and Answers
QUESTION: Why does Paul say, "I have laid the foundation" if it began at Pentecost?
ANSWER: If you had asked Peter on the day of Pentecost, "Is this the birthday of the Church?" he would not have known what you were talking about. I suppose those baptized on the day of Pentecost would have formed the nucleus of restored Israel had the nation repented. In the third chapter of Acts, Peter preaches and tells them that God would send Jesus Christ to set up the kingdom according to the Old Testament prophets if they had repented of the crucifixion of Christ. The stoning of Stephen sets aside the nation, and the raising of Saul of Tarsus is thus the opening out of the blessed truth that the day of Pentecost was really to become the nucleus of the Church, but it was not known until God gave it to Paul by revelation. It was not until Paul got the truth of it by revelation that we have the truth established that Pentecost was the birthday of the Church.
No one can understand what the Church is apart from Paul's ministry; he is the only one who gives us the truth of the Church. Satan's work in the hearts of God's people turns them aside from that truth. Paul's ministry is a most neglected ministry.
Sometimes you see Bibles where the gospels and the Psalms are almost worn out, but the epistles are neglected. The heavenly calling is not known and you find many Christians, dear children of God who know their sins are forgiven, mixed up in the world and the world's politics, and there is no testimony as to the truth of separation from the ungodly world.
Two truths recovered in the middle of the last century were these: the truth of the one body and the truth of the heavenly calling of the Church. These truths God brought to light—a remarkable recovery. Without question, it was a work of the Spirit of God.
Go back to the beginning and you will always find a clean path for your feet. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down and united 120 believers into one body. It was not the apostles forming a new group or system, but the Spirit uniting them to Christ in glory and thus they were bound together as one by the Holy Spirit.
Suppose one of those 120 should take a little offense and rent another hall in Jerusalem and put a loaf and a cup on the table. We will say that they hold no evil doctrine, but they are disgruntled with the rest. That other table is an independent table. The simple test is, how did the group originate? How did the group originate where I remember the Lord? Was it the Spirit of Christ gathering to Christ, or was it an independent group? To my own soul that has helped me through many a difficulty that has taken place. Keep a large heart for all the saints of God everywhere, but always keep your feet in the way of truth.
“Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth CHILDREN; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Gen. 3:16.