God draws the Church out from the world in order that the Church may stand with God against the world and rebuke the world in the name of the Lord.

God draws His prophets out from the Church in order that the prophets may stand with God against the Church and rebuke the Church in the name of the Lord. The prophet usually is in an adversarial relationship to Israel. Search the writings of the Prophets and see how often they complimented the Israelites on their behavior.

God draws out from among His prophets yet sterner prophets in order that the sterner prophets may stand with God against the prophets and rebuke the prophets in the name of the Lord.

Then comes the Lord Jesus Christ who stands with God and rebukes and chastens the sternest of the prophets.

All this separating and rebuking is motivated by the love of God for His creatures. He is making us partakers of His holiness.

As many as Christ loves He rebukes and chastens.

In the hour of Christ's appearing we shall have a marvelous opportunity to be joined together and have fellowship with God's heroes of faith from all ages of history. But this will be no place for the lukewarm, pleasure-loving, entertainment-satiated, nominal believers of our day. They would be miserable indeed!

This is a holy brotherhood—men and women who have lived as strangers and pilgrims on the earth, many of them having been tortured and slain for the Gospel's sake. The world is not worthy of them; neither are the lukewarm professors of comfortable Christianity.

We shall not be allowed to participate with such people until we forsake our life, take up our cross, and follow Christ without looking back.

The saints will stand on the earth, after they have been resurrected, until the period of orientation and reunion has been completed. They will have no fear of Antichrist but Antichrist will be terrified of them.

What will Antichrist and the rebels of the earth do when they behold the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven and the resurrected saints walking on the earth and having fellowship with one another and rejoicing in the Lord?

There is nothing whatever they can do just as the Roman soldiers and the leaders of the Jews were totally unable to harm the resurrected Christ.

This is the hour when God has set a table for His saints in the presence of their enemies.

There will be no bounds to their rage and despair when the ungodly realize that the hated Christians have been raised from the dead and no longer can be harmed by them.

The persecuted remnant still alive on the earth will rejoice exceedingly as the Kingdom of which they have been testifying, and of which they are such a valued part, finally has been revealed for the whole world to see.

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (I Thessalonians 4:17)

"Shall be caught up." Before we are caught up to meet Christ in the air we must be changed from a mortal human being into an immortal son of God. This transformation is exciting to contemplate. But let us remember that such a change marks the end of flesh and blood life as we have known it.

To be continued.