Putting It All Together*

Looking at the world, we are seeing events play out, such as the rise of Russian aggression and nuclear threats among the nations, that coincide with prophesied signs of the end times, and Christ's return. There is a new documentary available titled, "Who Can He Be?", which examines the Shroud of Turin and the work of the original STURP research on the Shroud. The question of "Who Can He Be?" becomes the most important question in these times, and will help us to put together the whole picture. Who He is, and what's next on the prophetic timetable of God will impact the whole earth. Even believers often have a limited idea of who Christ is. Scripture brings us this revelation: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." (Jn. 1:1-3, see also Gen. 1:1). Jesus was always with God and He was the Word spoken that created all things. In the same way, Christ plays the principal role in the current events and future events of the world, and beyond. We also play a role living in our knowledge of God through these events: "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust:" (2 Pet. 1:2-4). Knowing Christ in the fulness that God has provided for us, changes our natures, even to becoming partakers of the divine nature, and escaping the corruption of the world, and the consequences of that corruption. Those who are not changed by knowledge of Christ in such a way (v. 5-8), remain blind and cannot see into far things, and cannot remember the purging of old sins in themselves done by Christ (v. 9). Part of the knowledge of Christ that is necessary for our future pertains to prophecy, and the understanding of those prophetic promises that have been given to us. These prophecies and commandments were not given by men, but by God through the holy prophets, and through the apostles (2 Pet. 3:1-2). Among these prophecies of God to us are those which pertain to a coming judgment by fire upon the earth, and of Christ's sudden, and to some, unexpected return. Scripture tells us that there will be those who scoff at these prophecies: "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire (see also v. 10-12) against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." (v. 3-7). These scoffers even deny what we already know - that God had previously judged the earth (by water) in Noah's flood. They purposely decide not to believe that God will judge the earth again, although He has promised to do so. Peter warned us not to be ignorant of the fact that while God views time differently than we do, He nevertheless has a very precise timetable for these things, and that timetable puts us very close to the day of judgment (v. 8). To the Lord, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day. The Lord, Peter wrote: "...is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (v. 9). Our knowledge of the Lord also goes beyond the day of judgment. Peter wrote that our knowledge should result in our looking forward to His prophetic guarantee of a new heaven and a new earth. (v. 13). In having the knowledge of these things, and Who He is, our behavior should be ruled by this knowledge into being holy and godly (v. 11). Hosea also gave us prophetic knowledge of the Lord's view of the timing of events: "Come and let us return unto the LORD...After two days he will revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain; as the latter and former rain unto the earth." (Hos. 6:1-3). As the morning, and the rains, the timing is set. Again, our following after knowledge of the LORD affects how we will live through the moving of the LORD, whether in godliness or ungodliness, with understanding or willful ignorance, with preparation, or in being unprepared. We, in general, have not consistently been walking in His sight - we need to prepare for the third day, because it is sure to come. Paul wrote that we are not to be ignorant of the fact that in the day of the coming of the Lord, the dead in Christ will be raised, and we who are alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, which is also known as The Rapture (see 1 Thess. 4:13-17). In getting the answer to the question, "Who Can He Be?", we have seen that the knowledge of Christ stretches from the beginning, to the ending, and beyond to a new beginning. He has revealed who He is to man prophetically in manners that could not have been anticipated, or engineered by men. In Psalm 22, written by David approximately one thousand years before the birth of Christ, Christ revealed Himself to David in crucifixion details that were later described in the gospel accounts. At the time that David wrote the Psalm, crucifixion as a form of execution had not yet been invented by the Persians. Yet Christ revealed Himself in this Psalm saying, "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels...the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet...They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture..." V. 14-18). However, through this terrible experience, the prophetically revealed Christ declares that He trusts in the LORD to help Him, and that He will praise the LORD, and declare His name (YHWH - "Behold the hand; Behold the nail"). This is the transforming of the character of others based upon what has happened to Him: "The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations...They shall come and declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this." (v. 26-31). The knowledge of "Who can He Be?" is a transformative and necessary knowledge as we prepare ourselves for these end times, God's judgment upon the earth, and the Day of Christ's return. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 4/24/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and endtimeschool.com.