The Apostles
Double Fulfillment
Many times in the Bible the concept called “double fulfillment” of prophecy occurs. Jesus Himself is a triple fulfillment, proclaiming, “I am the One who is, and who was, and who is to come” (Rev. 1). It can be argued Jesus’ prophecy concerning the Birth Pangs is such a phenomenon and I believe the Great Commission is also. Think about it: was there ever a time since where all three groups were firing on all cylinders such as this—when the apostles were going into all the world invading the darkness with the Gospel, and when the through example the sheep the Word of God was spreading through entire regions, proving the shepherds were doing their part through baptizing and discipling? There may have been occasions where apostles and shepherds rose up, but I am not aware of any time in the western world the sheep have even faintly approached their full potential because of the damage religion always reaps upon them. Yes, I have come to believe the Great Commission was most definitely fulfilled prior to 100 AD when the last apostle died.
The Apostles
For the rest of us awaiting the second fulfillment of the Great Commission, as I discussed when speaking of John in the last article, a time is coming when there will be no further need of apostles in the sense of their place in the Great Commission. The sides will have been chosen, no more decisions for Christ will be made, and the doors to the kingdom will be forever shut. When exactly is that time I do not know, other than to say it will be shortly after “this Gospel of the Kingdom being preached to all nations” (Matt. 24) and the great persecution where many will fall away and betray each other that passage also reveals. With no more souls open to evangelism, the need for those going into all nations preaching the Gospel will come to an end.
The Shepherds and the Sheep
For these two groups always joined at the hip, let’s begin by talking revival because so many are sensing a tremendous one coming. I believe it has everything to do with the body of Christ and our place within it. I say in the book I believe this revival will feature a repeat of history which occurs many times in the Bible through a prophecy that was fulfilled, is being fulfilled, and is yet to be fulfilled, and would not this be the way for a God “who is, who was, and who is to come” (Rev. 1)? Jesus made “appearances” in the OT [with the three in the fiery furnace, the person of Elihu in the Book of Job, the man who revealed the plans for the temple to Ezekiel, and perhaps the person of Melchizedek the King of Salem], His coming and life were described in hundreds of passages in the Hebrew text, then He came fulfilling them, and now we await for Him yet to come at the end of the times set forth in the Revelations to reveal even more.
The two arisings of the kingdom of heaven and earth are like this: the OT refers to God’s kingdom but had not yet come to earth, and when it came with and in the form of Jesus Christ the reason was awakening those sheep so lost in His Father’s house that religion had wrought. The message that He brought to accomplished that? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Now I believe we live in that period Jesus referred to as the “Beginning of the Birth Pangs” (Matt. 24), an age of lawlessness and love growing cold brought on by the second arising of God’s kingdom. Along with that the subsequent arising of Satan’s kingdom of man and religion will occur.
As the sides are chosen with the faithful on both sides becoming fully “possessed” by their masters, conversions will become rarer and rarer. The field that will truly be “white for harvest,” on the other hand, will feature the repeat of history: bringing the millions of lost sheep occupying religion’s pews into the kingdom by grasping the same message Jesus came with earlier! Consider, what would be by far the most fruitful effort for the Holy Spirit: bringing an army of new “babes” into the faith, or bringing an army of those already converted, with some knowledge and faith, to full maturity?
Why this gathering of shepherds and sheep will inevitably happen is found in Jesus’ words, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.” We get many such warnings in the Bible concerning the end times which Jesus says are immediately preceded by the Birth Pangs, not the least of which is, “Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved” (Mark 13).
The time soon upon us will be brutal, and the suffering and persecution will be experienced such as we here in the land of comfort and security have not even faintly known. I believe it will take some sort of cataclysmic event [war (civil or with foreign aggressors), pestilence, disturbances in the earth the Bible repeatedly portrays, financial collapse, etc.] to wake us up and force us into it. Religion, with its model that has stolen authentic community from Christianity and left us simply incapable of understanding, and with that desiring such biblical community. People just don’t come together unless survival requires it and survival in this country has been replaced with an overabundance of Laodicean wealth, comfort, and freedom that are all so toxic to the faith.
According to the Bible, not only will the world hate us those who represent the first three seeds of the sowar in the body, which will sadly include most of today’s churchgoers, will betray the faithful to maintain their earthly comforts and possessions. Everything else Matthew 24 prophesied except this is being fulfilled, so I believe this persecution of flesh and soul is next on the agenda. While my flesh fears this, as would anyone’s, my spirit can’t wait for the revealing of authentic community, the restoration of the sheep’s platform, and the power of the body being released!
For the sake of the sheep and to seek out and save the final remnant before the end, God will reestablish authentic community, inspiring them once more to “continue steadfastly with one mind, dedicating themselves to the doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread with gladness and sincerity of heart and praising God in prayer.” They “will be together and have all things in common” as the Acts fellowship did even under the threat of arrest and death. Those tragic polling numbers will reverse because the sheep will again exist in an environment where they can come to understand their calling, power, and place within the Great Commission God always intended!
Finally, somewhere along this eschatological timeline between the Birth Pangs and “the end” God will bring about something truly miraculous upon, and for, the earth: the “revealing of the Sons of God” Romans 8 speaks of. I know not how large or small this group of what will need to be the most righteous, God-fearing, powerful men the world has known since the apostles in the first arising of the kingdom. I don’t know who they will be, but I do know they will be a people—a community—a sheepfold so unified, so at one with one another and with God, so as to reverse the curse on “the creation” humankind has suffered under since the fall—a curse that turned saints into sinners and God’s Garden into a wilderness. It will be God’s sheep united under a paradigm we cannot even faintly grasp now that will accomplish this, and my fondest desire above all others would be counted worthy to be one of them!