A Warning to this Present Generation
It is the responsibility of those who have eyes to see the signs of the times and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying, to warn God’s Elect and the world of His coming and impending judgment. These are the watchmen, who stand in the gap (Eze. 22:30) for God’s Elect, and say what they hear Him saying.
Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me.When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life. (Eze. 33:7-9 NASB)
The word of God says that, “judgment begins at the house of Lord.” (1Pet. 4:17) We, the Church (both individually and corporately), are the house of the Lord—the temple (Holy of Holies) of God (1Cor. 3:16; 1Pet. 2:5). And the judgment spoken of here does not refer to the judgment seat of Christ at the end of the age, but to the testing and chastisement of God upon His Elect, children (Isa. 48:10; Pro. 17:3; Jas. 1:2-4; 1Pet. 1:6-7; 4:12-14). This judgment is something the Lord has been doing ever since the Church’s inception, and even more so as the day draws near for His return. The judgment the Lord is doing in His Church in our day is the work of sanctification that began when Jesus rose to sit at the right hand of the Father in heaven, which work the Holy Spirit accomplishes as He takes the word of God and conforms us to the image of Christ in whom we were created (Gen. 1:26; Rom. 8:29; 2Cor. 3:18; 1Cor. 13:12). Our part in this is to agree with God by submitting to the Lord (the Holy Spirit), obeying His word, and judging ourselves (Amos 3:3; 1Sam. 15:22 1Cor. 11:31-32).
The Lord, Jesus, is coming back for a Church that is without spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:27). We are the Saints (holy ones) of God, who are called to be holy as He is holy (1Pet. 1:16). Holiness in the saint of God is accomplished through the judgment of Christ upon His Church; that is, by the testing and purification brought about by trials and suffering, whereby, the Lord continuously skims off the dross of worldliness, carnality, compromise, complacency, and lukewarmness, and conforms us until we are as He is (1Jn. 4:17). Our part is to separate ourselves from the way the world thinks, speaks, and acts; to die to ourselves that Christ may live in and through us; and to joyfully embrace the work of God in us (2Cor. 6:17; Jas. 1:27; Gal. 2:20; Jas. 1:2-4).
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