one shall be taken

ONE SHALL BE TAKEN

In Jer 33:1-3 we read: "Moreover the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying: Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it: the Lord is His name; Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."


The wonderful thing about God is that He has so much for us that we have never seen yet. Some think they have it all, others think there is nothing much for us, puny minds of men! While the minds of men, who understand not the things of the Spirit of God, concern themselves with worldly thoughts and earthly riches, God goes on about His business of revealing His deep spiritual and eternal truth to those that will call upon Him. Deut 29:29 says - "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."


There are many things we do not know, but the things we do know belong to us because our Lord was gracious enough to reveal them. We do not know all the details of how or why. However, we do know because it has been revealed, that God is bringing together His Body in these last days. A body of people with Christ as their head, being led of the Spirit of God, will walk in victory and power on this earth. This will be a time of the greatest tribulation and persecution against the church ever known in the history of the world. This body will not be strong in the ways of men, nor protected by man's schemes and devices and plans...but they will partake of the Grace of God until demons and devils will not shake them from the purpose of God in their lives. In all the wrath and tribulation poured out upon this world, this company of overcoming believers will abide in the shadow of the Almighty, with authority and power in His name.


Jeremiah did not look much like an overcomer, shut up in prison, but what the kings of this world didn't know was that God had set Jeremiah over the nations, and ordained that he should root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down, and to build and to plant. And all that they could do to Jeremiah could not alter the plan and purpose of God in his life.


Oh, friend, the Word of the Lord will stand forever. What does it matter if the world thinks that the move of God is dead, that the servants of God are still up in the prison of man's theology, cut off from ministry by man's kingdoms? God says, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things that thou knowest not." Our answer lies not in bringing man's ways into line, nor in getting the kings of this earth, or the princes of religion to see the right way, but it lies in the secret of calling upon God. God says, "I'll shew thee great and mighty things thou knowest not." Thank God for the blessings of the past, but there are such great things ahead that the past looks dim in comparison.


The great plan of the ages, the purpose for which Jesus died, the reason the martyrs were so willing to suffer untold agony, is about to come to fulfillment in this generation in which we live. Do you believe it? Say Amen! We don't know all the details of how it will all come about, but we know that for those who are overcomers in Christ Jesus our Lord, the future indeed is bright. And for those who reject His word and the counsel of the Spirit in this day of preparation, the future is the darkest man has ever known.
Great destruction is coming upon the world, even this fair land of America will be torn and bleeding with the ravages of the most destructive war the world has ever known, a war in which from 50 to 100 million civilians will die within minutes after it begins. You say, "Impossible, it won't happen here!" I say to you that it will happen here, and only those who have entered into God's ark for this hour, the Body of Christ, will be safe from the terrible flood of judgment about to be poured out upon this nation.


As it was in the days of Noah...but wait - what does it say about Noah's day? Let us look into God's word for the answer instead of just swallowing the traditions of man, as we have in the past. Are you really willing to do that? To believe God's word and come out of the prison house of man's theology? God spoke to Jeremiah while he was in the prison, and because he heard God's voice and believed, he was delivered out of prison and became free. You can be free today too, friend, for Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Just believe the plain teaching of the Word of God, regardless of how it cuts your past theology and teaching.


Now let us turn to Luke 17 and see what it says about Noah. First, Luke 17:26-37


"And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left."
Now let us examine this very closely and see who it was that was taken, and what happens to the one who is left. In John 15:1-2 Jesus says:


"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."
Notice please..the one who was taken away was the one who did not bear any fruit. In Luke the ones who did not enter into the ark were destroyed when the flood came. The one who was left was the one who bore fruit, but he was purged so that he would bear more fruit.


Now let us turn to Matt. 24:37-41 and read carefully together:
"But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field: the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill: the one shall be taken, and the other left."


Now it very plainly says, "As it was in the days of Noah". As it was. Not different, not the opposite way. But as it was in the days of Noah. How was it in Noah's day? The flood of judgment came and took the wicked all away, and the righteous were left to inherit the earth. Oh yes, they did, for when the waters receded and Noah and his family stepped out on the earth again, it all belonged to them. There was no one to dispute their claim. The fat of the land was theirs. God had given it all to them. The wicked had been taken away. And yet, man has devised a theology in which it is just the opposite. They claim the righteous are taken away into the sky for a big supper and the wicked are left to rule the earth. Also, the devil is left free to have his own way in the lives of all men on the earth.


The Bible, my friend, does not teach any such thing. For as it was in the days of Noah, the wicked shall be judged and taken away, and the righteous and the meek shall inherit the earth, as well as all of heaven's glories. Someone says, "Don't you believe in a rapture, a catching up of the saints?" Of course I believe in a catching up of the saints. The Bible declares it firmly. But I do not believe the purpose of it is to snatch a Door little half-hearted. down-trodden people
out from under the heel of Satan just before he crushes them completely out of existence. Nor to keep the last little handful of discouraged saints from backsliding into the ways of the world, as we have been taught.


Someone says, "God is too good to let His own dear people go through the great tribulation, with all its fiery trial." Is that so? Did you ever think of trying to tell that to the three Hebrew children? Was God too good to let them be thrown into the fiery furnace? No, but He was good enough to stay by their side in the furnace, and to bring them forth with nothing burned but their bonds. Did you ever think of telling Daniel that God was too good to let him go into a den of lions? And did you ever wonder what the martyrs of the early church would answer to that? What would those faithful children of God who were tortured by the Roman Popes and suffered at the hands of the fiends of the Inquisition if you told them God was too good to let His people go through persecution and tribulation? The church has always grown strong and healthy in the Grace of God during times of great persecution and fiery trials.


The prophet of God warned, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." It is those who call upon God and strengthen weak knees and put on the whole armor of God who will stand in that day. And God certainly will have a people who will be strong and do exploits in the last days, the days of judgment, for God promised it in Daniel 11:32. These are those who will "Stand", who will be left when judgment has passed over. Proverbs 3:25-26:
"Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken."


It is plain here that the righteous are not taken, but the righteous will be left. Well, if someone is to be taken, who is it? Proverbs 11:6 says - "The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them; but transgressors shall be taken.." Think of that! Transgressors to be taken! That is not what man has taught us, is it? As it was in the days of Noah. Remember. . . As it was...
In Job 34:20 we have a vivid description of atomic destruction: "In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away; and the mighty shall be taken away..."
Do you still want to be taken away, at midnight, in a moment, or would you rather put on the whole armor of God and stand in that evil day?


The trouble is that the preachers, having learned their revelation from man, are not telling the people that they will have to stand. Therefore, God's people are not putting on the whole armor.


Jeremiah the prophet cried out against them in chapter 6, verses 10 thru 14, saying that they were taken because they rejected the Word of the Lord, and that the preachers had cried peace when there was no peace. Also in chapter 8, verses 9 thru 11, he said:


"The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken; lo, they have rejected the Word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them? From the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, peace, peace; when there is no peace."


Isaiah the prophet said in 8:15: "And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken and be snared, and be taken."
Let us read what God said through the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 13, beginning at verse 3:


"Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord."


He goes on to say that the false prophets saw visions of peace when there was no peace, and that they seduced God's people, lulling them into a sense of false security. Read Ezekiel 13...but God says that judgment will come, and their walls shall fall, their false doctrine shall come tumbling down, and then the people shall ask them where is their secret flight to the sky, and there will be no answer.


Oh, preacher, this morning don't take man's word for it, but seek the face of God and see what the Word of God says about those who are to be taken and those who are left. Paul preached in Eph 6:13 that they would have to stand in that evil day, and to get themselves ready. God will not have an indictment against Paul that he didn't fully warn the people to prepare themselves for the day of the Lord.


Psalm 37 tells us that the plan of God is for the wicked to be taken out of the land, but the righteous are to be left to inherit the land. "As it was in the days of Noah." Some then were taken away, the wicked, who would not heed the true word of the Lord. Some were left, Noah and his family, left to inherit the land. As it was. Not different, but just the same will it be in these last days. Many will be taken away by judgment in a moment, and many many more in a time of the greatest trouble the world has ever seen. In the midst of all this, God has a people who will victoriously walk over this earth, untouched by the fire, even as the Hebrew children, led by the Spirit, abiding in the shadow of the Almighty, dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, taking refuge in God's Word. And God shall not fail them. Glory be to God. "Yea, My people, know thou that I watch over thee as a father watches his favorite son. Yea, my little ones, ye that trust in My Word and hearken not unto the fables of man, know thou that not a hair of thy head shall perish. For the eye that seeth the sparrow seeth thee, and My purposes shall be fulfilled in thee, and My Word shall not fall to the ground. For my people shall not be ashamed, yea, they shall even rise up with great victory and power and even show forth my majesty unto the world. Yea, my light shall shine into the dark places, for I have a witness in the world, saith God. Yea, even Him who hath created light and darkness, good and evil, I will give My strength unto My people and they shall witness unto My great name. But know this, thou scornful men, even thou that cost reject My Word with thy natural reason, that shine eye shall see it, and thou shalt not escape. For My purposes shall be fulfilled, and My Word shall not fail, saith the Lord."
"Yea, My people, when they deliver thee up to do to thee after their own pleasure, have no fear, for I will be with thee. And My words shall be in thy mouth, and thou shalt not struggle nor take counsel with man. For My Spirit shall teach thee what thou shalt say in that hour. They shall condemn thee even as they condemned Him who died for thee' but thou shall not return evil for evil, but thou shalt overcome evil with good. For thou shalt love even them who are shine enemies and who persecute thee. And they shall know that there is a God in Israel who searcheth the hearts of man. For even while they put thee on trial, My Spirit shall put them on trial, and I will convict them. But thou, My little ones, shalt overcome, saith the Lord, for so have I ordained, and the enemy shall not hinder My great work. Yea, I will shake the heavens and the earth, that that which cannot be shaken may remain. And ye shall inherit riches beyond thy thinking, yea, even all things will I give into the hands of My overcomer, saith the Lord of Hosts." Oh, Hallelujah! Glory to God! What a mighty God we serve. What a tremendous plan He has for us..much better than running away and hiding while the devil is at his strongest; but right here in the fiery furnace, overcoming the onslaught of Satan at his worst; protected by the mighty hand of our Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty man of Galilee.


Don't let anyone tell you that tradition is better than the Bible. Don't let anyone tell you to bury the Book. For out of this Book comes Revelation that will carry us through the floods of judgment soon to sweep the earth. In Isa 28:22 "I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts a consumation, even determined upon the whole earth." You may reject this message and soon forget it, but you shall not escape that which God will do.


Take heed, my friend, come out of the harlot system that has so filled you with tradition of men, and flee to the Rock, for the time is short. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near." God spoke through Jeremiah in our text, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." Some of Paul's greatest letters of victory and revelation were written while in prison, bound as far as man was concerned.
Today some look at the so-called "Move of God" or "Latter Rain" or whatever name you have given to it, and they say, "Well, it's failed, their crowds aren't as big as ours, their backs are to the wall." But crowds have never proved anything, except that God does not work through the majority. God is busy today perfecting a people, killing out all the self in them, getting them ready for the throne.


It was in prison they found Joseph when they needed a man to solve the problem and sit on the throne. He came out of that prison to a life of victory and authority. Seek the Lord, believe His Word, and let His Truth be thy shield and buckler. "Yea, for I would even warn this nation that their carnal means of destruction shall not save them in that day, saith God. For I will bring them to their knees, but I would not let them save themselves by their own wisdom and power, for their counsel is a stench to Me. Yea, and they sit up late and burn the midnight oil in vain, for it shall not be by their own power and might, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord. Even this day I warn this nation to repent, even as My servant Jonah warned Ninevah."