Christ has the winnowing (separating) fan in His nail-pierced hand. He will thoroughly purge His floor—His floor meaning His elect. Those who will permit the Lord to sift them will be saved (he who endures to the end shall be saved). But those who prove to be unworthy of the Kingdom of God, according to the Divine judgment, will be cast into the eternal fire.

Judgment begins with the family of God. It begins with the saints. It begins with those who are closest to the Lord.

Notice King David's attitude toward Divine judgment. It ought to be the attitude of every saint whether of the old covenant or of the new:

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139:23,24)

David is asking the Lord to judge him. It is a wise prayer.

Whenever Christ comes to His saints He judges us with His eyes of fire.

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: (Malachi 3:2)

Malachi 3:2 emphasizes a fact that must be brought to the attention of the Christian people of today. A number of Christian believers are not prepared to meet Christ.

Because of a misleading interpretation of the term "grace," because of a faulty interpretation of the statement "the just shall live by faith," and because of the assumptions included in the teaching of the so-called "pre-tribulation rapture," numerous believers are woefully unprepared to meet Christ.

Today there is in the Christian churches a feeling, a consensus, an assumption concerning what Jesus is like, what His demands are, what His plan of redemption includes. After fifty years as a Christian believer we have come to the conclusion that this "feeling" and set of assumptions concerning the Gospel include a considerable amount of deception.

Because of this "sense" of what the Christian salvation is, a sense that accompanies the "believe only" and "rapture" teachings, many Christians have become silly and presumptuous. They are like little children with jam smeared on their faces.

How do the immature believers of our time compare in character with Abraham, with Job, with Daniel, with Jeremiah? How would their comments about "grace" impress Moses or Elijah or the Apostle Paul? Yet, he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than any of the prophets. He is greater because Christ has been formed in him as a result of a deep inner crucifixion and a patient, cross-carrying pilgrimage.

We are confused today. We are in deception. Christian theology, except for its foundation in the blood atonement and triumphant resurrection of Christ, is a maze of contradictions. We simply do not understand the new covenant. It is time for God to move, to bring His flock into fiery judgment. If He does not, a multitude of believers are not going to be prepared for the appearing of Christ.

To be continued.