This is the 7th message in this series, we have been here meditating this theme since Christmas season and we are already 3 months on. We are walking through some interesting seasons spiritually, that if we were not so discerning we would be confused. The Lord has been talking much on the theme we are on, where both WRATH and MERCY run together. We have established that. However as much as many ministries are focussing much about end times, particularly regarding the many inconsistencies we see in a context of pandemic and the response to it. Many are already looking for the Beast, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.

The antichrist, the beast, and the false prophet have been present throughout Church history in different measures

¹⁸ Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know

This Scripture is taken from I John 2:18, which says that the antichrist has been, and is, and will come again. We must attribute this principle for the Beast, the false prophet. This means that our end times theology must contemplate the fact that the traits of the false prophetic, the political systems, and antichrist have been working for centuries, but what the book of Revelation and the apostles taught that this work by these 3 will not only continue but will achieve personification. That is the antichrist spirit will become personified in a person. The example is used in Luke’s Gospel in which Satan himself possesses Judas to carry out the betrayal. The end times is about this personification.

Jesus said these words: “as it was in the days of Noah…”

²⁶ And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.Luke 17.26

We must verify what Jesus means here, before we interpret the end times, we must see that whilst this overall impending judgment by flood, will have the same seeds present with the new judgment by fire. What were they doing in the years before the flood. There was a joining between mankind and celestial beings. What we are verifying now is the same process going on now, where satanic possession, deception, unholy ambition is going on now, we are seeing a rising joining between man and demon. As we see this work of personification take place we know the end is coming.

The end times will be marked by the Church taking upon itself the personification of Jesus Christ.

 It is not by chance that the Book of Revelation starts with the revealing of the Ascended and Glorious Messiah. This revealing is so we see and comprehend as we read what John is seeing and comprehending. In fact the wrath is manifest as the confrontation between two sets of peoples fully personify the One they serve. This is why the polarisation in the closing words of Revelation 22. This polarisation in its extremes is the trigger for WRATH. There is also a trigger for MERCY for Mercy and Wrath are really two faces of the same coin. This coin is called the CONSUMMATION OF THE AGES. This means that which all prophets have prophesied will suddenly come to pass. It means the FULNESS shall be reached by the Church, as it is full of Christ. As much as those who serve satan resemble him perfectly. The challenge here however is the Church throwing off now its political spirit, its misconceptions about who Jesus is.

Jesus meek and mild, just won’t cut it. This is not the Jesus we see in Revelation! The Church must reflect the Jesus it sees and serves. This means we are going to enter a process in the Church universal where the Jesus on the Throne shall be revealed as we have passed the persecutions where we like John will reach a corporate “Patmos”. John reached Patmos because the “martureo” of Jesus made John overcome the persecutions. There is a promise here. God is promising a time before the fulfilment of Revelation 11, of the witnesses, that we may pass many trials, but we will reach “Patmos” because they could not overcome! When we reach this place of overcoming we shall SEE and HEAR. We must identify what we need to overcome now…

We must overcome respectability, that is moulding our message to become one the world can find inoffensive. The cross offends, the Gospel confronts and transforms. It is the power of God. We must overcome our tendency to want comfort. God is about to do away with the Church’s comfort. Already in many countries the fact the Church meets is now a threat and under the guise of a health crisis our expression of fellowship and worship is being prohibited. God is taking away our “nests of comfort”, its time for the eagles to fly!!! We must also overcome mammon, because it will not be mammon that will bring about the end but miracles!

John had to be confronted by this Jesus he had never seen or talked with. He knew the Jesus before the Ascension, and now he is seeing Him in His heavenly position. It was a confrontation. How much more we need that confrontation now! How much our comfortable theology needs breaking. This will prepare us for the fulness of our destiny, our nature and our mission. The end time is a mighty confrontation for which we shall see He who is victorious over death and hades, will cast satan and his own kingdom into eternal damnation. The whole issue we are walking into is not about DEFENCE but OFFENCE because what we shall transition into is being EXACTLY in the image of Christ. Hebrews 1.3 tells us that Jesus was and is the EXACT REPRESENTATION OF THE FATHER, so we too shall transition into becoming the EXACT REPRESENTATION OF CHRIST. Is it any wonder that the end times become what they are?

The real end will come when the Church understands that what hinges upon the timing of the end is when the Church comprehends Christ and becomes His Representation

 This truth is key to the timing of the wrapping up of this age. We need to comprehend Him so we can become a representation of Him in nature and in destiny. When the Church comprehends the extent of mercy extended in this work of redemption in Him so we will see in equal measure wrath also extended to those outside the realm of mercy. This contextualisation we see here, gives us a new perspective of what we term end times. It puts into context what God manifests when His wrath is visible. It means we have a hope that is lived out in faith each day. May we reach our “Patmos” so that we can be part of the heavenly programme from above and not from below, where reigns confusion and fear.

Shalom.