ENDTIME PROMISES
by Lynn Ridenhour

"He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises."
--Hebrew 8:6

"God having provided some better thing for us."
--Hebrews 11:40

Better promises in the endtime. ...A better covenant.!

How can that be?

For us!

It has to do with a wonderful principle in God's word: God saves his best to last. It's called "grace:" ending better than you started.

That's where we're headed in this eleventh hour--on the dawn of a new and exciting millennium. God is saving his best to last. God is about to provide "...some better thing for us..." says the writer of Hebrews. What grace.

Grace is demonstrated throughout scripture. God's people, for instance, start out in the Garden of God and end up in the City of God. Job, old testament character, started out with so much and ends up with twice as much. Our Savior was born in a manager and ends up on a throne. He was born in a borrowed stable, preached from a borrowed boat, died on a borrowed cross, and buried in a borrowed tomb. Then his Father resurrected him and handed over the keys to the universe.

The story line is grace from cover to cover: ending better than you started.

Jesus, himself, demonstrated the principle remarkably at the wedding of Cana. The master of the banquet said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now" (Jn.2:10).

Saving the best till now. What grace to be alive on this eve of a millennium. Saints, you and I are living in the Laodicean age, that age just before the millennium, a wonderful age for the Christian. A terrible age for the institutionalized church. Speaking of the church at Laodicea, let's look briefly at...

PROPHETIC HISTORY:

Seven churches represent seven approximate time periods in this present millennium. For example, Ephesus represents that period approximately 29 AD to 100 AD. Smyrna represents 100 to 300 AD. Pergamos, 300 to 350 AD. Thratira, 350 to 500 AD. Sardis, 500 to 1500 AD, the dark ages. Philadelphia, 1500 to 1830 AD, the Reformation. And the church at Laodicea, 1830 to present-post reformation period.

Let's look at the last church of this millennium, the Laodicean church. By the way, "Laodicea" means: "church of the people." And that's what we have. Today's church is not the Lord's church. Since the early 1800s, the institutionalized church has been "spewed out" of His mouth. In the early 1800s, on one clear morning the Lord told a young lad in a grove to "...join none of them. All their creeds were corrupt." Thus, the post reformation period began.

Since that day, the Lord is not dealing with the institutional church. He's dealing with individuals in institutional churches. As I said, the institutional church has been "spewed out" of his mouth (Rev.3:16). Mouth in the scriptures stands for three things:

1) warmth
2) testimony
3) authority

Today the institutional church has no warmth of the Spirit; it lacks a true testimony of the living Lord; and possesses no spiritual authority. The Lord is on the outside looking in, "knocking," not wanting in, but wanting his children out. Back to the matter of repentance...

Yes, the church at Laodicea-the institutional church--refused to repent, though the better promises were given to it.

Better Promises for Laodicea:

Can you believe it?...

Of the seven churches, the "better promises" were given to Laodicea-if she repented. Remember, the church at Laodicea represents the post reformation period-1830 to present.

Question: what if the Laodicean people would have repented? What if we repent today?

Warnings in the scriptures do turn into blessings when conditions are met! It's always been a principle of scripture: curses become blessings when the Lord's people heed his conditions (Deut.28). Let's get down to it...

The Lord promised to those who repent in the endtime (Rev.3:14-21)...

1. greater zeal
2. greater anointing and vision
3. greater faith
4. greater holiness
5. greater humility through wealth transfer
6. greater visitations

Those promises are, indeed, better promises. And those were the better promises given to the church at Laodicea. It's called: eleventh-hour grace. Believe it or not, we're promised in our day "eleventh-hour grace," not because we're greater saints, but because we're in greater need on the eve of this present millennium.

Saints, our children are murdering one another! And calling it a video game.

Let's examine more closely the endtime promises (Rev.3:14-21).

FIRST, greater zeal:

"Be zealous, therefore, and repent" (vs.19). The problem is reference point. Example: I was the star basketball player on our team in high school-until I went away to college. Then all were "stars." My reference point changed. I couldn't drive in for those easy buckets any more. My opponents were as good as I-or better.

The institutional church is not a good reference point for testing the zealous. As saints are visited in the endtime, our zeal will astonish the world. Like Jesus, we will make our whips and "...[drive] them all out of the temple...And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" (Jn.2:15-17). Great zeal will come upon believers in this eleventh hour like never before. I welcome it.

SECOND, greater anointing and vision:

"Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see" (vs.18). Revelation knowledge will pour forth like a burst dam. And we will see the unseen.

One of the three ways the Lord comes to us is by APOKALYPSIS. Revelation. "The Lord Jesus shall be REVEALED from heaven" (II Thess.1:7). Paul's prayer to the Ephesians was "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" (Eph.1:17).

Anointed truths will increase and our knowledge of him will abundantlyexplode. All because of the nature of his anointing upon the saints during this eleventh hour. Notice, the Spirit said to "anoint thine eyes with eyesalve" (vs.18). Eyesalve: what's that? Why eyes? Eyesalve is anointed revelation knowledge reserved for the endtime. We'll be able to see into the spirit world like never before. What a wonderful restored gospel.

There are different anointings for different occassions. For example, there is an anointing that "FATTENS us up" spiritually for the purpose of blessing us. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest [fatten] my head with oil; my cup runneth over," said David (Psa.23:5). And that's what a blessing does: it fattens up the Sheep.

Through the outpourings of the Spirit, the Church these past 35 years or so has been fattened up by anointed teachers. True shepherds have fed the flock. Blessings have poured forth. Forgotten truths were restored. It was a fattening time for the saints. There is another anointing. One that SMEARS. Gladness is like a good smear. "Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed [smeared] thee with the oil of gladness.." A smear lingers; it won't go away. And we want gladness to linger. For many, the joy of the Lord has returned, and we don't want it to leave. I have seen holy laughter, unpredictable and unannounced, come visit certain saints. Gladness just once again introduced herself to the saints. The joy of the Lord is our strength, you know; not doctrine.

There's yet another anointing. One that's POURED OUT for the purpose of spilling over-spilling over onto everything it comes into contact with (II Samuel 14:2). It heals the inner soul. It touches the outer body. Sometimes in the Bible oil was poured over the head; it ran down over the person's clothing, affecting everything it touched. Sometimes God pours Himself out on a congregation, affecting everyone, and mass healings occur. It's really a sight to behold.

In my time, I have seen the Church revel in these three anointings: fattening, smearing, and pouring out.

But there's another anointing yet to come: a RUBBING IN. The salve that's to be rubbed into our eyes--anointed revelation. "But ye have an anointing [rubbing in] from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (I Jn.2:20).

Get ready, saints. This anointing is saved for the eleventh hour, for the endtime. Of course, we thank God for the other anointings. We needed them. And still do. We needed to be fattened up and blessed; we needed joy; we needed holy laughter; we needed mass healings. Praise Him for all the anointings.

But the eleventh hour anointing is special.

"...The anointing [rubbing in] which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing [rubbing in] teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." --I Jn.2:27

That's the anointing reserved for our day.

Be on watch. The counterfeit has already begun. The above passage does not mean we "need not that any man [should] teach us."

There are those with a rebellious spirit, submissive to no earthly ministry, unteachable, deceived by the enemy into thinking that ministry from the Lord's Body is unnecessary. They get their revelations "...straight from God." They reject body ministry and most authority. Wrong. Satan is using them as emissaries to discredit true believers who will come forth with tremendous revelation knowledge, the RUBBING IN anointing. The above passage tells us that the Spirit will "rub into our spiritual eyes" salve [revelations] so effective during the eleventh hour, so great, these revelations have never before entered into the heart of man. The Spirit will have to interpret them. And interpret He will. His interpretations will shake the world and the lukewarm. The "revelation gifts" will excel in the endtime. Visions will increase. And the Lord--appearing to those who "love his appearing"--will share intimately with them. Those saints, will, in turn, take before the Bride of Christ what the Lord shared with them in secret.

Truth will be rubbed in.

THIRD, greater faith:

"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich." (vs.18). Peter said, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (I Peter 1:7).

Saints in the endtime will have experienced much failure, much pain and sorrow. They've been stripped of all worldly desires. Many have been stripped of their callings, silenced by their superiors. Their faith has become precious to them, for it's all they have left. The Lord calls them rich.

They possess great faith. They speak and the course of rivers change. Entire cities come under the spell of the Spirit because of their ministry. They speak as the oracles of God because of revelation knowledge. Nature obeys and nations are affected. And they preach the gospel of the kingdom.

"Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come. Worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." --Rev.14:7

Their speech will carry so much power that people will "fear God" or "worship him" merely by hearing the sound of their voices. Truly, the oracle gifts will be quickened.

The Firstborn Son, Jesus, spoke and the trees obeyed. The latter-day Sons of God will speak with the same authority.

FOURTH, greater holiness:

"I counsel thee to buy of me.white rainment that thou mayest be clothed." --Rev.3:18

Saints who overcome lukewarmness will possess a holiness unlike others. That's mainly why the Lord wants his people out of institutional churches. He despises lukewarmness. You won't find zealots inside institutional churches. "He that overcometh," said Jesus, "the same shall be clothed in white rainment" (Rev.3:5). The same will be white hot with the zeal of the Lord. I want, don't you, to be white hot for God--clothed with focused zeal and holiness.

"Holiness unto the Lord" at the eleventh hour will be judged in terms of the Eunuch. Eunuchs in the Bible were hired to prepare the bride for the marriage ceremony. Hired to prepare her to enter into the bridegroom's chamber. And the Eunuch dared not touch her!

False shepherds have been touching, seducing, Christ's bride for centuries. In the eleventh hour, believe me, it will stop. They won't touch the endtime bride. The Lord will put an abrupt stop to it. Shepherds with their ungodly spirits of protectionism will experience the fear of the Lord for the very first time in their ministry.

Their ministry has not prepared the bride for the marriage ceremony as commanded. Instead, they've had their hands all over the bride, keeping her away from others, other ministries, for fear of "sheep stealing." That's spiritual rape, and God hates it. He will deal harshly with those leaders.

Endtime promises bring a greater holiness.

FIFTH, greater humility:

Especially regarding material wealth.

The last strong hold of the enemy in a believer's life is typically: prosperity, or the lack of it. Joseph, a type of the latter-day Church, while in Egypt, was granted favor by Pharaoh. He became the Minister of Economics for the entire nation.

Pharaoh turned the wealth of the world over to one of God's children. And as staggering as it may seem, there will again be a transfer of wealth. "The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just" (Proverbs 13:22).

Isaiah gave an interesting prophecy:

"A son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder.Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it." (Isa.9:6,7)

Where will the endtime government be placed? On the head? No. Upon "his shoulder." In other words, not on Christ, the head, but on his body, the Church. Not, however, on the entire body, but "upon his shoulder." Shoulders are the strongest part of the body. God is preparing even now strong mature men and women and training them in his school of economics.

Will you permit my indulgence for a moment?

I want to share with you a bit of our personal lives. I have a lovely wife, Linda, and a precious teenage daughter, Lori. As a family, we truly love the Lord and are extremely excited about the times. In 1993 we decided as a family to live the law of consecration. I mean-to give every dime we earned to the building up the Cause of Zion. We made the plunge. For these past six years we've been living the law of consecration. Not giving the Lord ten percent, but giving Him one hundred percent of our income.

You say-I want details. Sure.

First, we formed a Pure Trust, an irrevocable trust. And called it: The Cause of Zion. With five other families we then entered into covenants to live the higher law. The Lord begin to bless us mightily. For one thing, our herb business exploded! In a little over three years time over one half million dollars came in through our herb business and went into the charitable trust.

Then one day all hell broke loose!

The Church of the Devil (Demon-ocracy) came at us with a vengeance. The IRS froze our accounts, placed a lien on our property, and was ready to indict me with a felony for tax fraud. They wanted to "send me up the river." We fought the Church of the Devil with all our hearts, mind, and soul. We fasted. We prayed. We cried out as a family to the Lord in heaven. Sometimes day and night. (If you're not aware, Uncle Sam plays "hard ball.") For three years we were harassed, tape recorded, called in for sworn depositions, went before judges-and we won!

The judge, IRS, and investigators, simply could not believe that a family would consecrate their time, talents, and trophies totally to building up the Lord's kingdom. They suspected fraud from the beginning. But after three years' extensive searching and investigating, I'm happy to say, they found no wrong doing. Nothing. Much to their dismay.

Friends, our family was truly tested.

For one thing, our Bishop and Stake President didn't know what to think. Our friends, neighbors, and relatives were not sure "...about the Ridenhours." We truly understand the statement regarding our Savior, "...he made himself of no reputation."

But today, I'm happy to say-the Lord was our righteous judge through it all. He vindicated us before our accusers. We live in the Center Place of Zion, Independence, Missouri, on 75 acres that belong to The Cause of Zion. And we continue to live the law of consecration. I no longer pay social security or taxes. I told the IRS and the judge, I believe it's the duty of the Church to take care of the orphans and widows and the needy. I believe the Body of Christ should have its own welfare system. O, my convictions were challenged to the core, but, as said, the Lord was my judge. And we won on all accounts. My family and I truly give Him all the glory.

Let me simply come out and say it: Democracy will fail; capitalism will crumble; socialism will die; communism is already buried. All systems will cease and desist, for "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen..." (Rev.18:2).

God's government will be established upon this earth. We tend to think, God's primary purpose on earth is to build his Church. Not so. His primary purpose is to reestablish his government, his reign.

And I must say--to live under His rule and government, and not Uncle Sam's, is truly a better promise. I have listened to the empty promises of politicians far too long. "...read my lips..." Right.

And finally...

SIXTH, greater visitations:

Last, but not least, in this eleventh hour-on the dawn of a new millennium--expect the saints to have extraordinary visitations from the Lord.

John, the Seer, said to the church at Laodicea:

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will SUP with him, and he with me." --Rev.3:20

The word "sup" is a very strong word. It means "to dine with." Jesus will literally come and dine with some of his saints as he did with the two on the road to Emmaus. I'm not kidding. Saints, in this eleventh hour, will receive visitations from personages and personal appearances from the Lord of glory.

I know--we need a fuller grasp of the Lord's coming. His coming is referred to in scripture in three ways. His.

1. appearing: "epiphaneia"
2. revelation: "apokalupsis"
3. actual coming: "parousia"

Take, for example, the first, "epiphaneia." Epiphanies (post-resurrection appearances) were common to the early church. Jesus appeared to Mary, to the two men on the road to Emmaeus, to the twelve, to 500 brethren at once. There is no reason not to believe his appearances won't increase during the eleventh hour of this wind-down millennium. It's one of his better endtime promises.

Let's make sure we grasp what an Ehiphany is:

"...There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his APPEARING [Epiphany]" II Timothy 4:8. Paul is speaking of an Ephiphany.

Again...

"...Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious APPEARING [Epiphany] of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ." Titus 2:13

These passages are not referring to the Lord's actual coming; his "parousia" (I thess.4:15). The word in both passages is "epiphaneia," which means "manifestation." Not actual coming. Expect God, the Father, and the Son--two personages-to appear at times. Paul says, we're to look for the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior. Both will appear in Epiphanies during this eleventh hour. O, glory to God.

Saints, during this eleventh hour His visitations will manifest His shekinah glory to those who expect and love his appearing. That's a greater visitation than an outpouring of the Holy Ghost. An Epiphany experience far exceeds any anointing.

You recall the story of Peter's shadow in Acts 5? It is so easy to read over this great passage and to miss its beautiful meaning. Peter's shadow was not a shadow caused by the sun! It was the EFFULGENCE caused by a shining force of divine energy from Peter. It was an Epiphany experience-greater than any anointing. It was the radiance of Christ healing people. An Epiphany experience.

As we receive visitations from the Lord in these endtimes, the glory will be even greater than in the Book of Acts. How much greater? Who knows. But greater.

SUMMARY:

Let's return to our title and to our thesis: ENDTIME PROMISES & GRACE: ending better than you started.

In closing, let's look at the Lord's teaching in the parable of the eleventh hour (Matt.20).

"My friend, I'm not being unjust to you. Wasn't our agreement for a silver coin a day? Take your money and go home. It is my wish to give the latecomer as much as I give you. May I not do what I like with what belongs to me? Must you be jealous because I am generous? So many who are the last now will be first then and the first last." (verses 13-16) [Modern translation]

What's Jesus getting at?

Saints living in every generation receive exactly the amount of revelation they need to be overcomers in their own age. "I will pay you a fair wage," was how Jesus put it. You will get what you need.

As stated, saints living in this eleventh hour need more. We need...

1) greater zeal
2) greater anointings and vision
3) greater faith
4) greater holiness
5) greater humility, and
6) greater visitations.

"It is my wish to give the latecomer as much as I give you," Jesus said to the early complainers. And then He told them why: "May I not do what I like with what belongs to me?"

Saints, that's style. That's grace, sovereign grace. Saving the best to last. That's God's style.

Chosen to live during the eleventh hour! What grace.

...Better days, better things, a better resurrection, better covenant, and better promises. Everything is better in these last days.

I love these endtime promises. And I know you do too.

It's my prayer, we will embrace these endtime promises and walk in them.