The 7 characteristics

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The 7 characteristics of a true and anointed servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and member of the Bride of the Lamb in the end-time

What Scripture says about this:
1. They bring to the Lord as a burnt offering, all of their old, sinful life.
Isaiah 61:8 "For I the Lord love judgement, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them."

They hate their old, sinful life wherein they are bound, and give it to the Lamb of God that they be completely delivered from it by the divine sharing in His death on Calvary; this being brought about by the washing in His shed blood and the purifying power of the Holy Ghost's fire. God hates the robbery for burnt offering. This means, that we should not surrender in part unto redemption, but wholly. His true servants live up to this and strive for perfect sanctification by the Holy Spirit of the Lamb of God; of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2) Then the Lord Jesus will call such true servants to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb, and they will obey His voice.
Revelation 19:9 "And he (the messenger angel of God to the apostle John) saith to me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God."

For the rest of their life they will then continually partake of the Lamb's marriage supper-table. This means that they preserve their salvation by the Lamb by continually bearing about in their heart His dying (see 2 Cor. 4:10-11).

3) Then the Lamb will accept them as future members of His Bride and will prepare them hereto.
Luke 17:34-37 "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. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."

He will gather them as members of His active Body.

4) The spiritual burning of the Holy Ghost's fire will then purify them and completely free them from sin.
Not only forgive, but also free them from their bonds of sin.
Malachi 3:1-4 "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, and they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years."

Levi is the tribe of Israel serving the Lord in His tabernacle and temple, and symbolically stands for the true, anointed servants who serve the Lord as bringers of the Word.
If they are sanctified they will be able to bring God's Word as a pure offering in righteousness to the Church. Judah and Jerusalem are symbolic for the New-Testament Church of the Lord. By this fire and the spirit of sanctification God's servant is made faultless, without spot and without wrinkle (see Ephesians 5:27); and he walks and works as a perfect conqueror over satan and sin (see Revelation 12:11). He will prepare and use such persons as true Gospel preachers and teachers in the world, and will mark them among the workers as such by their charisma and anointing.
Isaiah 61:9 "And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed."

5) He shall clothe them with the garments of salvation, with the robe of righteousness, and with His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
Isaiah 61:10a "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness;..."

Revelation 19:8 "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints."

Psalm 45:13-15 "The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. (And outwardly:) She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace."

6) When the marriage has taken place, He will adorn His Bride with divine glory and authority.
Isaiah 61:10b "...as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."

Revelation 12:1 "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven (i.e. the kingdom of heaven, namely the Bride[church] here on earth); a woman (i.e. the wife of the Lamb) clothed with the sun (type of the Father), and the moon (type of the blood covenant of the Son) under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars (type of the Holy Spirit)."

a) The sun stands for the justice and glory of the Father;
b) the moon for the Lamb of God and His blood covenant, wherein the Bride of the Lamb stands;
c) the twelve stars for the omnipotence and authority of the Holy Ghost, with which she is crowned.
She then is clothed with all the glory of God. Great power, knowledge and wisdom of the Holy Ghost is then put onto God's true, anointed servant, preparing him so for his final battle and labour in the Lord.
He will gird on (equip) them inwardly and outwardly with the whole armour of God.
Ephesians 6:10-13: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

7) When the marriage (the union with the Lamb) has taken place He shall use His servant as His instrument worldwide
in order to
1) restore the Church, which has deteriorated because of satan; and
2) to bring about the worldwide revival, whereby the harvest shall be innumerable (Revelation 7:9; 14:14-16).

Isaiah 61:11 "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."

CLICK HERE if you want to read this study – that is to long for the Blog – further.

By E. van den Worm

LUKE (Chapter 10) - Like a divine shewbread in this world (Part 2)

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Communion with the Bread of Life brings mission in divine holiness
We see here that unity with Jesus results in holy labor. The number 70 (10 x 7) topologically stands for “perfect holiness”. Thus spiritual labor in perfect holiness is involved here. If, in the first shewbread (Chapter 9:1-11), we saw that our labor must be in the strength of the Holy Spirit (and this, of course, goes for ALL labor in Him), expressed there in the number 12; here we see which spiritual level our labor, in the power of the Holy Ghost, must reach; namely that of perfect holiness.

The number 7 in God’s Bible always points to the end-time, namely to the moment the period of God’s grace (a 2000-year period), wherein we are (still) living now, will be closed. Prophetically this tells us that during the last worldwide revival of God’s latter rain (this is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the end-time), of which we now already have received “the first drops”, a service in such holiness will be revealed; a service in God’s full justice and power, to which Obadiah 21 refers: “And Saviors (namely God’s anointed) shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (herewith are meant: worldly Christians); and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.”

Luke 10 verse 1-2: “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest."

Let us reflect for a moment on this “therefore” of the Lord. There are only few believers who are willing to work for Jesus with complete dedication of self. It is written, “The harvest is great, but the laborers are few!” As a result of His saints’ prayers, Jesus could bring about a change in this. He could make devoted laborers of repentant sinners, should they really want to; and draw them out of their social jobs to come and work in His Vineyard. Please note: we should not emit ourselves! We should not imagine that we be called, for such an imaginary calling never brings us Jesus’ nec-essary cooperation, namely the anointing of the Spirit, Who must do the work through us. We must be called by Him! And even if we are called and sent by Him, then we still must scrupulously follow his guidance through prayer contact with Him.

There are also different kinds of calling. The one is called to be an evangelist, the other a teacher, yet another a local shepherd, and the next a prophet; and, in the near future, during the worldwide revival of the great latter rain, we will see again apostolic callings. Apostles are the pillars of God’s Church here on earth; “all-round” laborers who will have the general leadership in the power, wisdom and love of the Holy Spirit.
Besides these five great callings we also find the smaller callings of “help” in the spiritual Body of Christ; these are helpers who, amongst others, must help the local shepherd to fulfill his pastoral service, such as: elders, deacons, youth group leaders, Sunday school teachers, choir members and leaders, musicians, typists and printing assistants, etc. We cannot push ourselves into such a calling. Should we do so, we would find out that it does not “work”, because God denies us the necessary anointing and devotion! It is God’s Spirit alone, Who can make us fruitful, in whichever spiritual labor; it is also God, Who determines for us the nature of the calling, because He, as no other, knows our heart. We may have a desire to serve the Lord in a certain calling; but a desire is not a calling (1 Timothy 3:1). However, each calling basically knows the human desire to be able to work for Jesus. But it always is the Lord alone, Who sends (forth) His laborers into His Vineyard (Mark 4:13).

Luke 10 verse 3: “Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.”

In this short command “Go your ways”, which the Holy Spirit gives, and will give, to His “emissaries”, lies a mighty force to send out, which urges the called to work for Jesus, irresistible drawn by His divine love; even if this labor takes them into circumstances which are not pleasant or comfortable, yes, which even might be dangerous! “Lambs” need the Shepherd; they do not have strength in themselves; their strength is that Shepherd. For when the wolf comes, then it is up to the shepherd to resist and chase off the wolf... Do not imagine that you are strong or clever enough to defeat the wolf, the satanic power, which reveals itself in the worldly person. It is God’s anointing in you which must do it through you! Never forget that you, as Jesus’ laborer, are up against a well organized, spiritual power of darkness, of spiritual evil (demonic forces) in the air which have the present world in their power, and which (in greater or lesser measure) lead all worldly people (Ephesians 6:12). But on the other hand we should also never forget that the Lord Jesus said: “...be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). In and by Jesus we will win the victory over the powers of the world and of hell! But this also shows us how important it is for this spiritual battle, to be equipped by Jesus with the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). The stronger God’s servants are clothed with God’s Spirit, the stronger the resistance of hell will be revealed in the attitude of the worldly person. This is the reason that Jesus warns us for the danger of wolves.

CLICK HERE if you want to read this study (Chapter 10) – that is to long for the Blog.

By E. van den Worm