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Isaiah 61:1-3
Authorized (king James) Version
{Paraphrased}
1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.
Yesterday, the Lord spoke to me about keeping Him first. He said that to make the Rapture, that I have to keep God first in my heart. I'll quote to you what He said below after I explain what happened when He said it.
Follow me: Suddenly on Easter 2020, the Holy Spirit reanointed me and began to bear fruit in me by obeying the Bible where I had struggles. I mean suddenly! At that time, I still had a born again need to please God (Eze. 36:25-27), and I knew that was a sign to discern that the Holy Spirit hadn't left me over my backslidings (Heb. 13:5). But how to keep God first in my movies and music, I didn't know how to do it. To will was present with me. But how to do it, was impossible in the flesh (Rom. 7). Suddenly the Holy Spirit did it on Easter 2020. He began to move my body and worship God in me (Jn. 15:5). What I mean is, that the born again need to please God in my heart was there, and I wanted to keep Christian television and Christian music on instead of worldly and ungodly movies and music. I wanted to read my Bible like I used to in the days when I first met the Lord. I wanted to go to church. I basically wanted to keep God first but I couldn't, because the Lord's anointing to keep God first was not in charge due to my choices to backslide in idolatry.
Then suddenly on Easter 2020, I got up and grabbed my Bible and dusted off the cover and started studying and I haven't stopped. I turned on TBN and haven't turned it off. I play Christian music instead of secular music now all the time. Jesus is first in my heart and devotion again. This is called "A Revival".
God was concerned about how I lived when I was alone. Such as in keeping Him first in the movies I watch and the music I listen to. Those areas are where the Devil was entering my life and where I was passive to keeping God first in my devotional life. It is where my backsliding began and were keeping me out of church. I would compromise my faith and sit and eat dinner and watch an exciting but worldly and ungodly movie, which is idolatry. Back then, it made me happy to do "Dinner & A Movie" after a hard day's work.
Today, I have no appeal for worldly movies and music because of that crucifixion in my heart. I really love the Lord now and I'll do anything to please Him (Jn. 14:15), so that He may count me worthy to make the Rapture (Lk. 21:36), and that I may enter the Holy Jerusalem, or, heaven, in the Rapture and rest from my work of keeping Jesus first by shunning evil desires (Heb. 4:9, 10), which is what this Post is about. How to do that, is what God is talking about in the opening Bible passage of Isa. 61:3, "...trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord...", which point I'm leading up to.
So, the Lord began a crucifixion in my heart on Easter last year that I believe this Post is a part of, i.e. the death of my heart and the resurrection of a new man (1 Sam. 10:6/ 1 Pt. 3:18). The Lord says that the crucifixion on my heart, has
"No end date".
This crucifixion is taking me home to the New Jerusalem in the Rapture. It started on Easter, 2020 and will end when I make the Rapture. Which means that the Rapture is about to happen. That, the Lord Jesus is yelling to His Church in the Spirit,
"I am coming back now!"
Romans 13:11-14
Living Bible
11 Another reason for right living is this: you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for the coming of the Lord is nearer now than when we first believed. 12-13 The night is far gone, the day of his return[a] will soon be here. So quit the evil deeds of darkness and put on the armor of right living, as we who live in the daylight should! Be decent and true in everything you do so that all can approve your behavior. Don’t spend your time in wild parties and getting drunk or in adultery and lust or fighting or jealousy. 14 But ask the Lord Jesus Christ to help you live as you should, and don’t make plans to enjoy evil.
Footnotes
Romans 13:12 his return, literally, “our salvation.”
The day of the Lord's return, is our salvation. The day of our salvation, is Jesus' return to earth. His return, is our salvation. The way to make the Rapture, is to first ask the Lord to help you make it, as verse 14 instructs us to.
Romans 13:14
Living Bible
14 But ask the Lord Jesus Christ to help you live as you should, and don’t make plans to enjoy evil.
Notice the verse says, "...ask the Lord Jesus Christ to help you live as you should..." The Lord, not us, is who helps us live as we should in order to make the Rapture. The first thing we got to do to make the Rapture, is to ask the Lord for help to live as we should to make the Rapture, or, to repent and stop sinning. Without the Lord Jesus' help, we can't do it; we can't bear fruit with Jesus (Jn. 15:1-6).
We have to first pray to the Lord Jesus to be counted worthy to make the Rapture before we can make the Rapture.
Luke 21:36
Authorized (King James) Version {Paraphrased}
36 {And Jesus said} Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Luke 20:34-36
Authorized (King James) Version
34 And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: 35 but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: 36 neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
The reason that Jesus instructs us to first ask Him for help through prayer to make the Rapture, is because Jesus is The Word of God (Jn. 1/ Rev. 19). When the Word, the Lord Jesus speaks, whatever He says comes into existence from His Word, or, from what He said (Jn. 1:1-3/ Mt. 21:19, 20).
So, we first have to ask the Lord for help to repent and to make the Rapture because what He says to us in response to our prayer to Him for help, will occur to prepare us for the Rapture. And when we are seeking the Lord in prayer for help to make the Rapture, we conquer that unbelief in the Rapture. The diabolical and erroneous teaching that the Rapture will not happen.
2 Peter 3:3, 4
Living Bible
3 First, I want to remind you that in the last days there will come scoffers who will do every wrong they can think of and laugh at the truth. 4 This will be their line of argument: “So Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? He’ll never come! Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly as it was since the first day of creation.”
This line of thinking and argument comes from impatience. The word of Christ's patience is a biblical doctrine with numerous scripture passages to make you understand the vitality of patience, or, waiting in obedience for Christ to return. Read the following Bible passages on patience and you will understand how that people who scoff at the Rapture, or, the Resurrection and say that it will not happen, believe that lie because of impatience. But, if you keep asking the Lord to help you make the Rapture, then you don't get impatient waiting for Him to return. If you get impatient, you backslide. If you keep asking Him for help, you prepare for the Rapture by not backsliding.
Rev. chapters 2 & 3/ Heb. 6:10-15; 10:36-39; chapter 12/ Jms. 5:7-11/ Ps. 37:7/ Rom. 2:6, 7; 8:22-25; 15:4, 5/ 1 Thes. 1:3/ 2 Thes. 3:5.
To pray to the Lord to help you prepare for the Rapture, keeps your mind stayed on the return of the Lord (Isa. 26:2-4). Persecution makes people impatient. Many will not make the Rapture because they turned from the Lord when He called them due to persecution, trial and suffering for being a Christian. The persecution offends the Christian and they stop watching for the Lord. Be patient in sufferings as a Christian in order to make the Rapture.
This Is Why People Become Impatient While Waiting for the Lord Jesus to Return
From Heaven: Persecution
Luke 8:1-15
Authorized (King James) Version
1 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, 2 and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, 3 and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance. 4 And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: 5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 9 And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? 10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. 14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Matthew 13:1-31
Living Bible
1 Later that same day, Jesus left the house and went down to the shore, 2-3 where an immense crowd soon gathered. He got into a boat and taught from it while the people listened on the beach. He used many illustrations such as this one in his sermon: “A farmer was sowing grain in his fields. 4 As he scattered the seed across the ground, some fell beside a path, and the birds came and ate it. 5 And some fell on rocky soil where there was little depth of earth; the plants sprang up quickly enough in the shallow soil, 6 but the hot sun soon scorched them and they withered and died, for they had so little root. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns choked out the tender blades. 8 But some fell on good soil and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as he had planted. 9 If you have ears, listen!” 10 His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you always use these hard-to-understand illustrations?” 11 Then he explained to them that only they were permitted to understand about the Kingdom of Heaven, and others were not. 12-13 “For to him who has will more be given,” he told them, “and he will have great plenty; but from him who has not, even the little he has will be taken away. That is why I use these illustrations, so people will hear and see but not understand.[b] 14 “This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘They hear, but don’t understand; they look, but don’t see! 15 For their hearts are fat and heavy, and their ears are dull, and they have closed their eyes in sleep, 16 so they won’t see and hear and understand and turn to God again, and let me heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. 17 Many a prophet and godly man has longed to see what you have seen and hear what you have heard, but couldn’t. 18 “Now here is the explanation of the story I told about the farmer planting grain: 19 The hard path where some of the seeds fell represents the heart of a person who hears the Good News about the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it; then Satan[c] comes and snatches away the seeds from his heart. 20 The shallow, rocky soil represents the heart of a man who hears the message and receives it with real joy, 21 but he doesn’t have much depth in his life, and the seeds don’t root very deeply, and after a while when trouble comes, or persecution begins because of his beliefs, his enthusiasm fades, and he drops out. 22 The ground covered with thistles represents a man who hears the message, but the cares of this life and his longing for money choke out God’s Word, and he does less and less for God. 23 The good ground represents the heart of a man who listens to the message and understands it and goes out and brings thirty, sixty, or even a hundred others into the Kingdom.”[d] 24 Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer sowing good seed in his field; 25 but one night as he slept, his enemy came and sowed thistles among the wheat. 26 When the crop began to grow, the thistles grew too. 27 “The farmer’s men came and told him, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that choice seed is full of thistles!’ 28 “‘An enemy has done it,’ he exclaimed. “‘Shall we pull out the thistles?’ they asked. 29 “‘No,’ he replied. ‘You’ll hurt the wheat if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and I will tell the reapers to sort out the thistles and burn them, and put the wheat in the barn.’” 31-32 Here is another of his illustrations: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a tiny mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds but becomes the largest of plants, and grows into a tree where birds can come and find shelter.”
Footnotes
Matthew 13:10 Why do you always use these hard-to-understand illustrations? is implied.
Matthew 13:12 so people will hear and see but not understand. Those who were receptive to spiritual truth understood the illustrations. To others they were only stories without meaning.
Matthew 13:19 Satan, literally, “the evil.”
Matthew 13:23 brings thirty, sixty, or even a hundred others into the Kingdom, literally, “produces a crop many times greater than the amount planted—thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much.”
If you want to make the Rapture, prepare by staying patient in waiting for Him to return.
James 1:2-4
Authorized (King James) Version
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Read the book of 1 Peter. This book is talking about said subject, that persecution creates the patience to wait for the Rapture in the face of persecution.
Let's continue,
The Lord showed me that when I backslide, that it's because the Devil is there. After I backslide, the Spirit of the Lord stops helping me. He doesn't leave, but the Anointing to keep Jesus first goes away and I start backsliding. Before Easter last year, I wouldn't notice that the Devil was there or that the Holy Spirit's Anointing stopped helping me to keep God first because of sin. Now I do, and that crucifixion on my heart is why I now know these two things. And now that I'm dead in Christ and want to please Jesus no matter what so that I make the Rapture, I repent right away and that Anointing to keep Jesus first returns, and I feel normal and happy again in the Presence of the Holy Spirit because the Devil left. The temptation is coming from the Devil. Obedience keeps the Devil away from you. The Lord told me that the Devil will leave when I refuse to sin and keep God first (James 4:7). So he's not a problem cos all I got to do is keep God first instead of sin and backslide. So that deals with the Devil problem.
How to not backslide is next to deal with. This is what the Holy Spirit spoke to me in the spirit of my mind,
"Sin (or gratification) is not how to deal with your desires. Asking Me to help you {not to gratify temptation} is".
He told me this last week. I remember that message to ask the Holy Spirit for help to not gratify temptation now, and I refuse to give in to the temptation and soon, in a few minutes, the body part or the desire, is no longer in charge. The Holy Spirit is in charge and the temptation is gone from my body parts and the Anointing to keep God first, stays intact and in control.
Once I learned this lesson last week, and did it over and over. Then the Lord said to me,
"That's how you make the Rapture".
Ask the Holy Spirit for help when tempted
Refuse to sin
The Anointing to keep God first helps me conquer the temptation and the Anointing stays instead of sin
Let me write out for you here the messages I have recorded about this message, so that you can understand and imitate me as I listen to the Lord:
"I had bad feelings for an enemy. And the Lord told me to pray for Him, that he wouldn't get killed when his wife comes to see him. And I didn't want to. I wanted to justify my feelings (let him get killed). But I listened to the Lord and I prayed, and He said",
"That's how you gain eternal life. When you put your flesh to death".
Let's continue with the messages on the recorder:
"When you're close to God you have problems in this world. What that means, is that the closer you get to God, the more you're not gonna get along with people and this life because of their sins".
"The Lord said,
"You can't be close to Me in this world, and live".
"God has to keep a distance between us and Him, once we get born again and Spirit filled, so that we can live in this life to be used by God to win souls. Otherwise, if He makes us to be as close to Him as we possibly can in this life, we're going to lose it (our life). We're going to be taken out".
"And when you obey God, the more He; the Holy Spirit, and the Angels, are going to come with commands and things for us to do, but you're not going to be able to do them. You're not going to be physically fit. You're going to be too tired to do the things that the spirits ask, because the Holy Ghost lives in us, and the Angels are always around us. They will always be giving us things to do. But there's so many things to do and the spirits are always trying to help us with things to do, that we cannot do them all. The Lord will burn out our flesh. It's spiritual anointing to accomplish God's Will. That's what it's like to obey God instead of backslide. It's called 'Fellowship', or, the communion, or, friendship, of the Holy Ghost" (2 Cor. 13:14)
"The Lord says,
"To keep God first, is how to prepare for the Rapture".
"The work of regenerating, the born again experience (Tit. 3:5, 6), that God puts in your heart to keep Him first and to shun evil; keep rejecting things that want to take first place in your heart and use that Anointing that God gave you to keep Him first, to say no to compromise. You have the power over it now where you didn't use to before you were born again. Keep God first. That's how you prepare for the Rapture".
"Prove to the Lord that you love Him and are Rapture ready by keeping God first in your heart and shunning evil, refusing it. The Lord said that asking Him for help is how to overcome temptation. Not by indulging in it".
The reason that I have Isaiah 61:1-3 to open this Post about how to make the Rapture, is because I saw that I was like a growing tree that was planted by the Word of the Lord (1 Pt. 1:22-24) and watered by the Word ()when the Lord told me yesterday how to make the Rapture.
This is what I saw: I saw the Holy Spirit come upon me and crucify my heart on Easter 2020. Then I saw the Lord making me feel sad for 419 days by crucifying the happiness that I had in idolatry. I would live in compromise and was passive to obedience and keeping God first in idolatry and sin.
Then yesterday, I saw the Hand of the Lord, that was keeping me from backsliding and keeping God first, lifted. It looked like the Lord Jesus in a white cloak moving away and lifting His right hand from my head, and then disappeared (that doesn't mean the Lord left me. It means He finished the Anointing to keep God first with a crucifixion on my heart). After He lifted His Hand that was keeping God first, I began to feel temptations again, like I used to before the crucifixion began last year. But I noticed that I was so used to being close to God like that, that I immediately rejected everything natural that I felt. I would not allow temptation to rule in my body. I would reject anything that makes Jesus drop from being first in my heart in devotion. I'm refusing temptation to any sin in my body to keep Jesus first, so that I can be close to Him, to keep that closeness that the crucifixion brought, and to make the Rapture. It's like a spiritual love making, or, connection, with the Holy Spirit that keeps God first that I don't want to lose.
So, once God Anoints us like this to keep God first in our heart, then releases us, we have to renounce and refuse temptation to keep God first and stay in that Anointing. That Anointing is there, but I have to put my flesh to death to stay in it. When I do, I'm happy and normal. That's what the Lord means when He said,
"That's how you make the Rapture".
We're like trees planted by the Lord. He plants salvation in our heart with the Word, or, the Bible. Then waters the seed with the Bible, or, wisdom and understanding about salvation. Such as refusing sin in order to keep God first with the Anointing. Without the Anointing, we CANNOT do this.
Then when the Lord releases us, we grow by refusing sin in order to Keep God first in our heart by asking the Lord for help to stop sinning. Yes, we are trees of righteousness. The planting of the Lord.
The Lord anoints us and this anointing keeps God first
The Lord releases His hand
We have to deny ourselves and kill our flesh to keep God first.
This means that we have to seek the Lord, to pursue that anointing over the flesh that keeps God first, because that is the fulness of the Anointing that we need in order to live. We need the Anointing to live.
I'm experiencing growth right now. To make the Rapture, I've got to refuse sin and ask the Holy Spirit to help me not sin, in order to keep God first in my heart. So, the Lord is preparing me for the Rapture in this way because it's about to happen. I say it will happen next year.
What Is the Rapture?
The Rapture is the Redemption of the Body. The Resurrection of the Dead. The First Resurrection. The Resurrection of the Just.
The Redemption of the Body
Romans 8:22-25
Authorized (King James) Version
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
The Resurrection of the Dead
1 Corinthians 15:35-58
Living Bible
35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be brought back to life again? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36 What a foolish question! You will find the answer in your own garden! When you put a seed into the ground it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it “dies” first. 37 And when the green shoot comes up out of the seed, it is very different from the seed you first planted. For all you put into the ground is a dry little seed of wheat or whatever it is you are planting, 38 then God gives it a beautiful new body—just the kind he wants it to have; a different kind of plant grows from each kind of seed. 39 And just as there are different kinds of seeds and plants, so also there are different kinds of flesh. Humans, animals, fish, and birds are all different. 40 The angels[a] in heaven have bodies far different from ours, and the beauty and the glory of their bodies is different from the beauty and the glory of ours. 41 The sun has one kind of glory while the moon and stars have another kind. And the stars differ from each other in their beauty and brightness. 42 In the same way, our earthly bodies which die and decay are different from the bodies we shall have when we come back to life again, for they will never die. 43 The bodies we have now embarrass us, for they become sick and die; but they will be full of glory when we come back to life again. Yes, they are weak, dying bodies now, but when we live again they will be full of strength. 44 They are just human bodies at death, but when they come back to life they will be superhuman bodies. For just as there are natural, human bodies, there are also supernatural, spiritual bodies. 45 The Scriptures tell us that the first man, Adam, was given a natural, human body[b] but Christ* is more* than that, for he was life-giving Spirit. 46 First, then, we have these human bodies, and later on God gives us spiritual, heavenly bodies. 47 Adam was made from the dust of the earth, but Christ came from heaven above. 48 Every human being has a body just like Adam’s, made of dust, but all who become Christ’s will have the same kind of body as his—a body from heaven. 49 Just as each of us now has a body like Adam’s, so we shall some day have a body like Christ’s. 50 I tell you this, my brothers: an earthly body made of flesh and blood cannot get into God’s Kingdom. These perishable bodies of ours are not the right kind to live forever. 51 But I am telling you this strange and wonderful secret: we shall not all die, but we shall all be given new bodies! 52 It will all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For there will be a trumpet blast from the sky,[c] and all the Christians who have died will suddenly become alive, with new bodies that will never, never die; and then we who are still alive shall suddenly have new bodies too. 53 For our earthly bodies, the ones we have now that can die, must be transformed into heavenly bodies that cannot perish but will live forever. 54 When this happens, then at last this Scripture will come true—“Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55-56 O death, where then your victory? Where then your sting? For sin—the sting that causes death—will all be gone; and the law, which reveals our sins, will no longer be our judge. 57 How we thank God for all of this! It is he who makes us victorious through Jesus Christ our Lord! 58 So, my dear brothers, since future victory is sure, be strong and steady, always abounding in the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever wasted as it would be if there were no resurrection.
Footnotes
1 Corinthians 15:40 The angels, literally, “There are celestial bodies.” But perhaps this may refer to the sun, moon, planets, and stars.
1 Corinthians 15:45 was given a natural, human body, literally, “was made a living soul.” but Christ, literally, “the last Adam.” is more, implied.
1 Corinthians 15:52 from the sky, implied.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Living Bible
13 And now, dear brothers, I want you to know what happens to a Christian when he dies so that when it happens, you will not be full of sorrow, as those are who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and then came back to life again, we can also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him all the Christians who have died. 15 I can tell you this directly from the Lord: that we who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. 17 Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever. 18 So comfort and encourage each other with this news.
Luke 20:34-36
Authorized (King James) Version
34 And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: 35 but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: 36 neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
The First Resurrection
Revelation 20:1-6
Living Bible
1 Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. 2 He seized the Dragon—that old Serpent, the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so that he could not fool the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterwards he would be released again for a little while. 4 Then I saw thrones, and sitting on them were those who had been given the right to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus, for proclaiming the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the Creature or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They had come to life again and now they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 This is the First Resurrection. (The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years had ended.) 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the First Resurrection. For them the Second Death holds no terrors, for they will be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
The Resurrection of the Just
Luke 14:12-34
Authorized (King James) Version {Paraphrased}
12 Then said {Jesus} also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. 13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 14 and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. 15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. 25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, 26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? 29 lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, 30 saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. 34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
"He Gave Me Beauty For Ashes" (Maranatha Singers)
"I Asked The Lord That I Might Grow"