By: Dr. Brian Bailey
The Glorious Church - References from the Law
In considering many Scripture references to the Church in the last days, we find overwhelming scriptural evidence that the Lord will bring His Church to maturity and perfection in the last days. There will also be a great numerical increase of believers. The barns will be full to overflowing with multitudes accepting Christ as their Saviour.
Let us consider what the Scriptures have to say about the Last Day Church. We have divided these references into three categories: 1) References from the Law, 2) References from the Prophets, 3) References from the New Testament.
One of the most precious doctrinal truths in the Law concerning the Last Day Church is typified by the seven Feasts of the Lord in Leviticus 23.
The barns will be full to overflowing with multitudes accepting Christ as their Saviour.
The seven major feasts are: the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
These feasts were kept by the Israelites every year. However, they also have a spiritual application for the Church. An important hermeneutic principle is to understand that Old Testament prophecies that promise blessings for Israel also have their counterpart fulfillment in the Last Day Church.
The Feast of Tabernacles, the last feast of the Jewish religious calendar, was called the Feast of Ingathering (Ex. 23:16; 34:22).
It was the time when the Israelites brought in all their harvests and thanked the Lord for their crops. This is the feast typifying the last day revival, which will bring the Church to maturity. There will be a great ingathering and harvest of souls. Millions will come to know the Lord!
We are on the threshold of the great Feast of Tabernacles today. The Church universal has been experiencing the sixth feast, the Day of Atonement, for several years now. It began in 1973 with the Yom Kippur War, which actually started on the Day of Atonement.
I have come to circumcise the hearts of My people, and I will start with the leaders. Those who hearken and yield to the sword will go on.
From that time onwards, the Lord has been speaking of circumcision of the heart and purification, because the Day of Atonement is the time when God deals with the sins of His people. What happens in Israel is a sign of what God is doing in the Church. That war signaled that the Church was entering the Day of Atonement.
When my wife and I were on the Mount of Olives just prior to the war in 1973, the Lord visited us in a very sovereign way. He told us that the Yom Kippur War was coming and showed us other things that would come to pass. He spoke to us that He would begin to reveal sin in high places. At that time, America was going through the Watergate scandal, among other things. The next year about thirty heads of state around the world were removed from office.
Then God spoke to us and said, "Now I am going to reveal sin in My Church." Regrettably, this word came to pass, and there came a wave of moral crashes of several well-known ministers in the I 980s. It was a time of purification when God put His finger on sin. The message of the Spirit to the churches worldwide was holiness and purification of all sin.
In 1981, when my wife and I were in New Zealand, two angels appeared to us. One of the angels had a large sword in his hand. At the bottom of the sword was written the word, "Circumcision." The Lord said to me: "I have come to circumcise the hearts of My people, and I will start with the leaders. Those who hearken and yield to the sword will go on. Those who do not will be judged." Across the garment of the other angel was written, "The Enforcer." The Lord said that those who refused to allow the sword of circumcision to purify their hearts would be punished by the Enforcer.
However, that is changing now. We are quickly approaching the seventh and final feast, the Feast of Tabernacles. It will be a time of great joy and celebration. In Leviticus 23:34- 43, the Lord commanded the Israelites to keep the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days, beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.
They were to rest and rejoice in the Lord their God. The Lord commanded them in Leviticus 23:40, ''..Ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.” The Feast of Tabernacles is the feast of Jesus’ appearing. In John 7, Jesus made His appearance during the Feast of Tabernacles and taught the people about the river of life that would flow out from believers (Jn 7:37-38). It will be a glorious time.
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This article is an excerpt from Chapter One of The Second Coming. It has been printed with covering permission from the late Dr. Brian Bailey. You may purchase a copy of the book from Faithworks Bookstore.