Restoring
Vision
Of
the
The
Victorious End-times Church
An
open letter to leaders and teachers in the church
Dear Saints,
During these days of
deeper realization of the Father’s love, amazing signs and wonders, and
increasing harvest, it seems out of place to speak of end-time events which
sound like gloom and doom. Persecution
and suffering and martyrdom seem outside the box of our current understanding
of the Father’s goodness and love. But
to see these events as gloom and doom is to see only in the natural.
When asked about the end
of the age, Jesus told His disciples to plan to endure to the harvest which
would be the end of the age. He told
them in numerous places in the gospels and in the book of Revelation to expect
increasing persecution. He said that
the world would hate them and kill them even as it hated and killed Him. He warned them in advance so they would not
stumble when it happened (John 16:1).
In spite of His warnings, He said many would fall away and the love of
most would grow cold (Matthew 24:7-13).
Our vision of the finish
line at the end of the age is confused because those who teach on the end times
do not agree on the basics. Some insist
we will be here; some insist we will be gone before the trouble starts. Some insist the events of Revelation beyond
chapter four do not even deal with the church.
Some insist these events have already taken place. Few see these events as the process our
loving Father has chosen to transform His children into the likeness of Jesus,
even though Jesus called these events birth pains. Few see these events as the process our loving Father has chosen
to glorify Himself by defeating the devil through His church.
Ephesians 3:9-11 reads
that God created all things in order to demonstrate His manifold wisdom through
the church to the powers and authorities in the heavenly places, and this is
His eternal purpose in Jesus Christ.
The wisdom of God is defined as the wisdom of the cross in 1 Corinthians
1:18-25.
A crucial part of this
demonstration of God’s wisdom is going to take place during the last three and
one-half years of the age, when the church will go head to head in battle
against satan’s antichrist system. This
final and deciding round of the battle of the age between good and evil is
described in the books of Daniel and Revelation. This is a major missing piece
of our current understanding of the end-times puzzle, because it places the
cross and the church at the very center of events.
We, the church, know we
are going to be victorious at the end of this age. Jesus said it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the
kingdom (Luke 12:32). Daniel learned
that the saints will receive the kingdom forever (Daniel 7:17-18).
However, before that
happens, Daniel learned that the saints will be given over to an antichrist
system for three and one-half years and will be warred against and overpowered
(Daniel 7:21-27). He learned that the
holy people will be destroyed (Daniel 8:24), and that the age will end only
when their power has been shattered (Daniel 12:7-10). He was confused because he did not have a model for victory
through what seemed to be total defeat.
It upset him so much that he became ill.
We continue to read in
Revelation that these saints and holy people of Daniel are followers of Jesus
Christ. Revelation confirms that they
will be given over to the antichrist system for forty-two months [three and
one-half years] and will be warred against and overcome (Rev. 13.5-10). Through all this they are told to persevere,
and that those who die are blessed (Rev. 14:9-13).
Revelation also says ---
in what seems a paradox --- that the saints overcome satan by the blood of the
Lamb, the word of their testimony, and by not loving their lives unto death
(Rev. 12:11). The key to understanding
this is to recognize the wisdom of the cross in that those who are overcome in
the natural become overcomers in the spiritual. The saints overcome by laying down their lives. The two witnesses --- who seem to be the
most anointed members of the church ever to walk the earth --- are overcome and
killed. They are a snapshot of what
lies ahead for a large portion of the end-times church. The scenario is a parallel of Jesus’ public
ministry and death, except that at the end of the age it involves His corporate
body.
We read in Revelation 7:9
of a great multitude of saints without number who were in great
tribulation. Whether they missed a
prior rapture or not, they are clearly a portion of the church because they
wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. They are probably greater than one billion
in number, because they must be an order of magnitude greater than the
two-hundred million man army at the sixth bowl of wrath who can be
numbered. One-fourth of the world’s
population --- nearing two billion in today’s numbers --- are turned over to
the riders of the fourth seal. We read
at the opening of the fifth seal that God has a quota of Christian martyrs
reserved for this time. Jesus said that
unless He would step in and put a stop to it, all life would be lost.
The greatest victory ever
won was the victory that Jesus won on the cross. It didn’t look like victory in the natural as He hung there
shattered, but it was God’s wisdom --- the wisdom of the cross. If we understand this wisdom is again going
to be demonstrated through the church at the end of the age, then the end-time
events of Daniel and Revelation make sense.
If we think the church is going to be absent from the earth during this
time, then we don’t even get to square one in understanding God’s end-time
plan.
We know that Jesus
legally defeated satan on the cross.
But that was just the beginning of God’s plan. Jesus then turned the working out of that legal defeat over to
His church in the power and authority of His name. He said to His disciples, “I have given you authority over all
the works of the devil.” He’s not going
to take that authority back. He’s
waiting for the church to fulfill her destiny.
The Bible indicates there will be great and
increasing outpourings of the Holy Spirit, and they are already taking place
all over the planet. There will be
awesome demonstrations of signs and wonders which are already happening. There are and will be great victories over
the devil that result in many being swept into the kingdom. The kingdom of God is coming in ever greater
measure. Revelation 12:10 reads, “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the
salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His
Christ have come . . .”
The sick are being healed
and the dead are being raised and the works of Jesus and even greater works are
increasingly being done over the face of the earth. And they will continue to increase as the Holy Spirit continues
to pour out in greater measure. The testimonies
are awesome and God is being glorified.
May entire cities and nations and billions of souls be saved as Jesus
works through His church!
But we must not lose
sight of the finish line that the Bible describes. We must factor it into our vision so that we don’t get caught
blindsided. The time is quickly coming
when staggering numbers of the church may be asked to lay down their lives for
their faith. We need to understand it
as a demonstration of our Father’s redemptive loving plan. It may not be the gentle kind of love we
would prefer, but it is the greatest kind of love, the kind that lays down its
life for its friends --- the love that is stronger than death. Perhaps the deeper Revelation of the
Father’s love that we are experiencing in these days is preparing us to be able
to respond with this kind of love.
Jesus compared this
process to a birthing, and He called the events at the end of the age birth
pains. All creation is groaning as in
birth pains for the revealing of the sons of God. No one likes birth pains, but one must be willing to go through
the pains to get to the birth.
The Bible says Jesus was
perfected by His suffering. If we are
going to be a people at the end of the age like Jesus, then we can expect to be
perfected by our suffering. Paul writes
about sharing in Jesus’ suffering and filling up what is lacking in the
suffering of Jesus’ body. Birth pains
become more frequent and intense as the time for the birth nears. It is no coincidence that the birthing of the
sons of God is amidst a time of “great tribulation”. Out of the intense and final birth pains of great tribulation
come those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Only then will Jesus return, for
He is coming back for a bride without spot or wrinkle who has made herself
ready.
I don’t want to suffer. And the purpose here is not to elevate
suffering for the sake of suffering.
But if Jesus is going to require me to share in His sufferings as part
of the process of being transformed into His likeness, then I want to set my
face like flint to endure those things that He described as birth pains. And I will only endure through the birth
pains as I understand them as from the hand of my Father Who loves me and has
my eternal best interests in mind.
Paul compared this
Christian life to running a race, and he encouraged the church to run it with
endurance. Understanding the length and
nature of a race and preparing for it is crucial to running a good race and
finishing. A short dash requires
different training than a marathon.
Running in hills requires different training than running on a level
track. We must restore the vision of
the race before us by equipping those who run with understanding to endure
through birth pains to the harvest at the end of the age as Jesus said we must.
Three and one-half years
is a time of testimony. Jesus’ public
ministry was considered that length of time.
Elijah prophesied that it would not rain for that length of time. The two witnesses will witness for that
length of time. The saints will be
turned over to the antichrist system for that length of time. The majority of the book of Revelation deals
with this last three and one-half years of the age. This is the last and deciding lap of the race the church is
called to run.
Peter and the disciples
could not process what Jesus said when He told them He was going to suffer and
die. They thought He was going to
overthrow Rome and give them the kingdom.
Likewise we are not processing what He is saying to us through the book
of Revelation. Many believe the church
is going to be victorious by taking dominion and overhauling the world systems
before Jesus returns. But that does not
match the nature and sequence of events foretold in Daniel and Revelation. There’s a missing piece in that vision ---
the cross. The cross comes before
victory because it is the path to victory.
Jesus did not suffer and die so that we would not have to. He did it to set us free, and then He
invited us to pick up our crosses and follow Him.
This does not mean we
should ignore the systems of the world.
The systems of the world are full of people who need to hear the
gospel. Daniel was a testimony in the
midst of Babylon, and he had “come out of her” even though he lived in her
midst. Babylon will eventually spill
the blood of the saints and those who testify of Jesus (Rev. 17:6), but until
she does, we will overcome by being a testimony in her midst.
And they [the saints]
overcame him [satan] by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and
by loving not their lives unto death.”
Vern Kuenzi
876 Hoomaemae St.
Pearl City, HI 96782
808-455-9204
www.restoringthevision.com