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The Bible is the revelation of God. If we are to understand any major aspect of this revelation, we must take care of the governing principles established and revealed in the Bible. The governing principle of the Bible as a whole is that God in eternity past made a purpose, a plan, which was to express Himself with His authority. This plan, God’s eternal purpose, is thoroughly revealed in the first two chapters of Genesis and the last two chapters of Revelation. In Gen. 1 and Gen. 2 we see that man is the center of God’s created universe. Although God created the heavens, the earth, and millions of other items, the central item is man. God made man in a very specific way, forming him out of the earth (Gen. 2:7) and in His own image (Gen. 1:26). Hence, man, a single entity, bears two things: the earth and the image of God. In substance man is earthly, but in expression he is divine. In this one entity, man, we see a wonderful principle — one creature bearing the earthly substance and the divine image. When man expressed God’s image and exercised His authority in His dominion, God was at rest. As we have seen in previous messages, this is the significance of the Sabbath rest. That was the situation at the very beginning of the Bible.
When we go to the end of the Bible, we see the consummation: the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem. In the new heaven and new earth, the earth will be more useful than heaven because the New Jerusalem will be on the earth. If we read Revelation carefully, we shall see that the New Jerusalem is not a physical building, but a living composition composed of living persons, such as the twelve Apostles of the Lamb and the twelve tribes of Israel (Rev. 21:12, 14). The city of New Jerusalem will bear the appearance of God and express Him in a full way. Moreover, God’s throne will be in that city, and God’s authority will be fully exercised there. This is the eternal kingdom of God. Therefore, in the New Jerusalem God will have complete rest and obtain His eternal Sabbath. This matter is the governing principle of the whole Bible.
If we are to know the Bible, we need to have an overall view of it. Do you realize that the universe is composed of three periods? The first period was the time before Adam, the period that is called the pre-Adamic age. As we saw in our Life-Study of Genesis, before Adam was created the universe was already in existence. No one can tell how long that first period of time was. The second period of the universe extends from Genesis 1:2 through the end of the coming millennium, from the time of the creation of Adam until the end of the millennium. This period of time is quite short, perhaps not more than seven thousand years. Although we may think that this is a long time, in God’s eyes seven thousand years are the equivalent of seven days, for to Him a thousand years are as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). Following this second period, there will be the third period of the universe — the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem. That period will last for eternity. In order to know the Bible thoroughly, we must understand these three periods of the universe.
The first period of the universe was the period of the fall. God created, Satan damaged, and God came in to judge the universe. In Genesis 1:2 we have the start of God’s re-creation. Strictly speaking, only verse 1 of Genesis refers to God’s creation, for verse 2 is the beginning of God’s re-creation. Within God’s re-creation there was further creation. Man, for instance, was not a re-creation but a creation. From the time of God’s re-creation until the full completion of His purpose will be a period of approximately seven thousand years. Since it is during this span of time that God accomplishes His eternal purpose, we may call this the period of accomplishment.
The period of accomplishment began with the creation of man. Man was God’s creation. God’s re-creation only recovered the fallen universe back to a condition suitable for man’s creation and existence. The second coming of the Lord Jesus will not end the period of accomplishment, because the old heaven and old earth will continue for another thousand years after the Lord’s coming back. Those one thousand years will be a continuation of the period of accomplishment. The Lord’s second coming is even a further step in the accomplishment of God’s purpose. Therefore, God’s accomplishment of His purpose began with the creation of man and will be completed not at the time of the Lord’s second coming but at the end of the millennium.
After the period of accomplishment, the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem will come. That will be the period of the eternal Sabbath, the time of the complete Sabbath. The eternal period in the future will be an unending Sabbath. Our Father, our Savior, and all the redeemed ones will be there. This is our destiny, our future. Our future is the eternal Sabbath where our Father, our Savior, and all of us will be at rest for eternity.
Let us now see how God accomplishes His purpose. Firstly, He created man. In his natural make-up, man is not the genuine fulfillment of God’s purpose, but only a photograph, a prefigure. But even in this photograph we can see the features of God’s satisfaction. The Old Testament mainly reveals two things: God’s creation of man and His calling of man. God made Adam and called Abraham. Abraham, including Isaac, Jacob, and all Jacob’s children, was the corporate called one. All the children of Israel were called in Abraham. Thus, Abraham was a corporate man, a prefigure once again of God’s satisfaction. In this corporate man we can see much more than we can with Adam, for Adam was only a single man as a photograph of God’s satisfaction, while Abraham, including his descendants, was a complete, corporate figure of God’s satisfaction. The Old Testament reveals these two prefigures of God’s satisfaction, one individual and the other corporate. However, in principle both are the same, revealing what God’s satisfaction is. We need to have such an overview if we are to understand the Bible.
While the Old Testament shows us the prefigure, the New Testament reveals the reality. God Himself came to be a man, to be the seed which He Himself has sown into mankind as the earth, the soil. We should never separate mankind from the earth, because in substance these two are one. The Bible clearly says that man came out of the earth and belongs to the earth. God came to sow Himself as a seed into humanity, the real earth. This one grain of wheat fell into the earth of humanity, died, and in resurrection produced many grains which have been formed together into one loaf, the church (John 12:24; 1 Cor. 10:17). In this loaf, the church, we have God’s expression and God’s dominion. Here in the church is God’s kingdom where God’s authority is exercised and His image is expressed. Hence, the church is God’s Sabbath, the first stage of God’s accomplishment of His purpose in a genuine and real way.
But there is the need of another stage. The first stage was with the Lord’s first coming, and the second stage will begin with His second coming. In order for Him to accomplish His purpose in a genuine way, He needs to come twice. In His first coming, He sowed Himself into mankind, and in His second coming He will reap what He sowed in His first coming. Something was accomplished with His first coming — the church was produced, and there was a Sabbath — but this is not the full completion of His purpose. His second coming will accomplish more, bringing in a fuller Sabbath. His first coming brought in the first real Sabbath, but this Sabbath is not the full Sabbath, because the accomplishment of God’s purpose has not yet been completed. Thus, there is a need of His coming again to complete His accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. This means that God’s eternal purpose could never be accomplished before the Lord’s second coming. In other words, God’s eternal purpose cannot be fully completed without the millennium.
The millennium will be the last and most crucial part of the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. I need to stress this point strongly because throughout the centuries most Christian teachers have held the concept that when the Lord Jesus comes back everything will be completed. According to that concept, the Lord’s coming back apparently means the end of the old universe and the beginning of the new heaven and the new earth. When the Lord Jesus comes back, a wonderful time, the millennium, will begin. But regardless of how wonderful the millennium will be, during that time the old heaven and old earth will still remain in existence. At most, the millennium will be a time of restoration (Acts 3:21, Gk.). Heaven and earth will be restored during the millennium, but they will not yet be changed from the old to the new. The changing of the old heaven and earth into the new heaven and earth will require another thousand years. The approximately six thousand years from the creation of Adam until the second coming of Christ will issue in a restoration of the universe, but it will not result in a renewal of the universe. That requires another thousand years. After the last thousand years have passed, the entire universe will be changed from the old to the new. Then there will be a new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem.
Do you still hold on to the concept that everything will be all right at the time of Christ’s second coming? Not everything will be all right at that time. Although Satan will be bound, he will not be fully dealt with during the millennium. At the end of the millennium, he will be loosed from his prison, will deceive the nations, and will lead them in battle against the Lord (Rev. 20:7-9). After the millennium, Satan will still work against God. Furthermore, the evil in human nature will not be completely dealt with during the millennium. Although all the nations will be subdued, at the end of that time Gog and Magog will rebel once again, proving that the element of rebellion in man will still be present. Thirdly, death, the last enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), will not be cast into the lake of fire at the second coming of Christ, but at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:14). Thus, three evil things, Satan, the rebellious nature of man, and death, will still exist even at the end of the millennium. Since this is the case, how can we say that by the second coming of Christ everything will be all right? The Lord still requires some time to work in order to eliminate these three evil things from God’s eternal universe.
Along with Satan, the rebellious human nature, and death, there are two more negative items that will not be dealt with until the end of the millennium. Firstly, the sea, a sign of negative things, will not be fully removed until the end of the millennium. In the new heaven and the new earth there will be no more sea (Rev. 21:1). Secondly, all the dead unsaved people will not be judged until the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:11-15). At the end of the millennium, the dead unsaved people will be resurrected and judged at the white throne for their eternal destiny, and everyone whose name is not found in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. That will be the last item of the termination of the old heaven and the old earth. Following that, the entire old universe will be over, and the new universe with the New Jerusalem will be ushered in. In the new heaven and new earth there will be no more Satan, rebellious human nature, death, or sea. Do not believe that everything will be settled at the time of the Lord’s second coming. Only when we are in the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem will we be able to shout, “Hallelujah, everything is now all right!”
Today we are enjoying the Sabbath rest in the church life. Although this is good, we are waiting for the Lord’s coming back, because that will usher in a better Sabbath. This Sabbath is called a “restoration” (Acts 3:21, Gk.). But even this is not the best, the ultimate Sabbath. Satan, the rebellious human nature, death, the sea, and the unsaved dead people will all need to be dealt with. The first Sabbath will bring in the second, and the second Sabbath will bring in the third. The church will bring in the kingdom, and the kingdom will usher in the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem.
At this point we need to consider the Lord’s chastisement. First Corinthians 11:32 says, “When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” Here we see that chastisement differs from being lost. Although you may never be lost, do not think that there will be no problems. The Lord may chastise you.
All fundamental Christians agree that if we do not behave ourselves after being saved, the Lord will chastise us. But many hold the inaccurate concept that the Lord’s chastisement is only in this age, and that when the Lord comes back there will be no further chastisement. But this is not logical. Suppose a certain young brother has been seduced away from the church life, drifts back to the world, and lives in sin for the remainder of his life. Do you believe that when he meets the Lord everything will be all right? I cannot find a hint in the holy Word that this will be the case. There is not one verse which says that a Christian who lives in sin without repentance will have no problems at the time of the Lord’s coming back. There are many verses, however, which tell us that the living saints and the resurrected dead saints will be judged before the judgment seat of Christ for a reward, either bad or good. As the good reward will be a prize, so the bad reward will surely be a chastisement or punishment.
Second Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” This judgment will not be the judgment at the white throne for salvation or perdition, but the judgment at the second coming of Christ before the millennium for prize or chastisement. Paul’s use of the word “we” in this verse proves that he was including himself in this matter. The “things done in his body” refer to what we are doing today. First Corinthians 4:5 tells us to “judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” Will you have praise of God at the Lord’s coming back or not? It depends upon what you do after you have been saved. At the time of His coming back, the Lord will set up His judgment seat, and all the raptured and resurrected saints will stand there to give an account to Him.
We find the same thing in Romans 14:10-12: “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, each one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Recovery Version). We shall stand there and give an account of what we have done after we were saved. The Lord will ask us to tell Him what we have done that we may receive the reward we deserve, either good or bad. This is serious, and I feel sorry for the many Christians who have never heard about it. If we do not see this matter clearly, we shall be unable to understand the Sabbath rest and the five warnings in the book of Hebrews concerning the Lord’s dealing with the believers in the coming age.
The Gospel of Matthew also speaks about reward. Do not accept the dispensational concept that Matthew is not for us today. If the Gospel of Matthew is not for us, then the Jesus born as the Savior in Matthew 1 and presented as the rest in Matthew 11 is not for us either. How ridiculous it is to say this! In Matthew 16:18-19 we see that when the church is built, the kingdom will be ushered in. Matthew 18:15-17 refers to the local church life, telling us that if a brother does not listen to the church, he should be considered as a publican and a heathen. This means that he will be out of the church life. To be out of the church life is to forfeit the right to what is mentioned in Matthew 11:28-29. In Matthew 11:28 the Lord said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The “I” who gives us rest in Matthew 11 goes to the church in Matthew 16 and remains in the church in Matthew 18. If we would enjoy Him as our rest, we must follow Him to the church and stay with Him in the church. If we do not listen to the church, we shall be out of the church life and out of the rest. Matthew 12:8 says that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. In order to have rest we must be with Him. If we are outside of the church, we are without the Sabbath.
While Matt. 16:18-19 speaks of the church and the kingdom, Matthew 16:27 speaks of the reward. “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” This verse does not refer to unbelievers, for unbelievers are merely sinners and cannot be worthy of a good reward. This verse surely refers to the believers who will receive one of the two kinds of rewards: a prize as a good reward or punishment as a bad reward. Matthew 1 tells us that Jesus is the Savior and Emmanuel; Matthew 6 tells us to pray, “Thy kingdom come”; Matthew 11 tells us that we may come to the Lord for rest; Matthew 12 reveals that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath; Matthew 16 unveils that the church is built upon Christ and that the kingdom is ushered in through the built-up church; Matthew 18 tells us that we should be in the proper church life; and Matthew 16:27 warns us that the Lord will return to reward us.
Matthew 25 gives us a serious warning that when the Lord comes back He will punish some of His servants (vv. 24-30). Some say that the servants who are punished by the Lord are false Christians, but this is not logical. How could false Christians ever be the Lord’s servants? How could the Lord assign a work to a false servant? It is wrong to interpret the matter this way. Those who claim that these servants are false servants are forced to say this because they do not believe that the Lord will punish any of His servants after He comes back. They would argue, “How can any saved ones be punished by the Lord when He comes back? This means that the Lord’s redemption is not perfect.” Nevertheless, these same people teach that if Christians do not behave themselves in this life the Lord will punish them. We would turn their argument against them and ask, “Would not this chastisement also prove that the Lord’s redemption is not perfect?” The difference is a matter of time. Where is the verse telling us that the Lord will chastise His people only in this age and not in the coming age? There is no such verse. But there are many verses which tell us that when the Lord comes back He will chastise some of His servants (Luke 12:35-48, especially 46-47; Luke 19:11-26). When the Lord comes back, He will punish His slothful servants.
To those who say that there will be no such punishment, I ask this question: If there will be no problem after the Lord comes back, why does He need to judge us at all? Why must we all stand before His judgment seat? Do you believe everyone who stands before the judgment seat will receive a prize, a good reward? What kind of reward would a slothful servant receive — a crown? Even if the Lord gave him a crown, he would be ashamed to accept it. If you lived in sin after being saved and the Lord offered you a crown at the judgment seat, would you receive it? How ridiculous it is to say that the Lord would give a crown to a Christian who spent his time gambling, taking drugs, and attending nightclubs. Perhaps the Lord will say to such a believer, “You are a slothful servant. You need chastisement.” Do not think that simply by being resurrected everything is solved. The strongest proof that not everything is solved by resurrection is the fact that after the resurrection all the unbelieving dead will still stand before the white throne to be judged concerning their eternal destiny.
According to the New Testament revelation, all real Christians who do not live according to the Lord’s will shall be disciplined, chastised, or punished. Whether this will happen to us in this age or in the next we do not know. Our wise Father is the only One who knows. Many fathers realize that it is not wise to deal with their children immediately following their wrongdoing. Only a wise father can decide the right time to discipline his children. Nevertheless, the principle is this: if a child is wrong, he needs to be disciplined. Hebrews 12 reveals that we are not only partakers of the Holy Spirit (6:4), but also of the divine discipline (12:8). Since we are the Father’s sons, He will surely discipline us. The time when He disciplines us is up to Him. But if we, the children of God, are wrong, He will surely discipline us. Do not be shortsighted and say, “Praise the Lord, during the last two years I have not suffered any discipline.” You may receive some discipline at the judgment seat of Christ when He comes back.
Another basic principle relating to God’s dealings with us is that we are God’s crop (1 Cor. 3:9). As God’s crop we need to reach ripeness, maturity (Rev. 14:15). If the wheat growing in the field does not ripen, it will never be taken to the barn; it will be left in the field. If we are wrong, we need to be chastised; if we are immature, we need to be left in the field to ripen. No one can argue with these two principles.
With these two principles in mind, let us come to Matthew 24 and 25. Matthew 24 reveals that, in a sense, the Lord will come in a secret way, for we are told that He will come as a thief (Matt. 24:42-43). No thief comes in a noticeable way. Matthew 24:44 says that we should be ready, “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” When we think the thief will come, he does not come, but when we are at peace, thinking that no thief will come, he comes. The Lord gave the same warning to Sardis in Revelation 3:3, saying, “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.”
Matthew 24:40-41 says, “The one shall be taken and the other left.” This undoubtedly refers to the secret rapture, to the rapture of the ready ones, the matured ones. A thief only comes to steal treasures, things that are precious; he does not steal junk. We need to be a treasure in the eyes of the Lord. We need to be precious by being mature so that He will come and take us secretly. This will happen one day. Perhaps a young person will say, “I don’t know what happened to my friend who loved the Lord so much. She has disappeared. Where did she go?” Such a one has been raptured. Do not believe the teaching that there is only one rapture and that all the saints will be raptured at the same time before the tribulation. That concept is not accurate. Yes, the majority of the saints will be raptured according to 1 Thessalonians 4:17, but the mature ones will be taken secretly according to Matthew 24:40-44. There are two aspects of the Lord’s coming: the secret presence, which is first, and the public appearing, which follows later. First Thessalonians 4:15-17 speaks of those “which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.” Here we see two categories of living saints: those who are living and have already been taken, and those who are alive and remain. Likewise, in Matthew 24 one living one is taken and the other is left.
In Matthew 25:1-13 we have the parable of the ten virgins. The two saints mentioned in Matthew 24 are the living ones, for they are working in the field and grinding at the mill. The ten virgins in Matthew 25, however, are the sleeping ones. Sleep here does not refer to any kind of spiritual sleep but to physical death. Since the Lord has delayed His coming back, many saints have died. The number ten is the majority of twelve, which is the number of the church. The ten are found in Matthew 25 and the two in Matthew 24. When these two numbers are added together, we have the whole body of church people. At the time of the Lord’s coming back, the majority of the church people will have died; only a small number will still be living. Hence, the ten virgins represent the dead saints, and the two living ones represent the living saints.
All ten virgins in this parable were saved. Do not believe that the five foolish virgins were unsaved. To be foolish is very different from being false. For example, a foolish child is not a false child. Hence, all these virgins in Matthew 25, both the wise and the foolish, were saved. The lamps of both the wise and the foolish were shining, but the problem was that the foolish virgins did not have enough oil. When the bridegroom came and the virgins arose (this means that they were resurrected), the foolish virgins discovered that they did not have an extra portion of oil. The lamp of the Lord is our spirit (Prov. 20:27), and the extra portion of oil is the transforming Spirit in our soul, in our being. Our human being, our soul, is God’s vessel (Rom. 9:21, 23). To have oil in our lamp means that we have the Spirit in our spirit. The foolish virgins, however, never became transformed by having the Spirit saturate their soul. They did not have the Spirit in their soul, in their vessel. So they had to pay the price to gain the extra portion of the Spirit in their soul that they might be transformed. This is why the wise virgins told the foolish, “Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves” (Matt. 25:9). If you do not pay the price to gain the transforming Spirit in your soul today, you will pay it when the Lord comes back.
We all need to pay the price to have our soul transformed by the Lord, the Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all, with unveiled face beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit” (Gk.). This transforming Spirit is the extra portion of the oil that we need. The Spirit who comes into our spirit, lighting the lamp of our spirit, is free, and every regenerated person has it. But after we have been regenerated, we need to be transformed in our soul. This requires that we pay a price. Many who have believed in the Lord Jesus and who have been regenerated in the spirit are not willing to pay the price to be transformed by the Spirit in their soul. Although our spirit, the lamp of the Lord, is enlightened by the Spirit, our soul, which is our vessel, needs to be transformed by the Spirit. We need to pay the price to have the transforming Spirit in our soul. If we do not pay the price in this age, we shall have to pay it in the next.
Many Christians hold the concept that everything concerning God’s purpose will be completely accomplished when the Lord comes back, and that the millennium will not be an age for the Lord to deal with His believers. According to their concept, the Lord’s dealing with His believers is only in this age, leaving nothing for Him to deal with in the coming age. In this sense, the millennium should be in the new heaven and new earth, without the need for the Lord to accomplish anything more for God’s eternal purpose. But, as we have seen, the millennium will be the last part of the period of time in which God accomplishes His eternal purpose. The Scriptures unveil clearly that both this age and the coming age are the time for the Lord to work on and deal with His believers so that they may mature and be fully perfected for God’s eternal purpose. If He cannot complete this work with us in this age, He will complete it in the coming age. It all depends upon our response to His work of grace. If we would cooperate with Him, He would surely prefer to perfect us and make us mature in this age; otherwise, He will be forced by our foolishness to postpone His dealing with us to the next age. In His wisdom, God has ordained the next age with the millennial kingdom to be an age of reward as an incentive for us to seek Him and respond to His work of grace in this age. If we are willing to take this incentive, we shall enjoy Him with the church life as today’s Sabbath rest, and we shall be rewarded by Him with the millennial kingdom as the Sabbath rest in the coming age. But if we neglect this incentive, we shall miss the enjoyment of Him with the church life as today’s Sabbath rest, and we shall be disciplined, chastised, and punished in the coming age, to say nothing of the loss of the enjoyment of Him with the millennial kingdom as the better Sabbath rest. Of course, this present age of the church is very crucial for the Lord to work on His believers for their maturity and perfection. However, the coming age of the kingdom is also needed for the Lord’s dealing with those of His believers who are unwilling to cooperate with His grace in this age. This is why the book of Hebrews encourages us to endeavor to enter the Sabbath rest that remains for us.
