One of God's days is a thousand of our years. So how long has it been since Jesus has been raised from the dead? The answer is, almost two days; we are at the very end of the second day. Historians indicate that He was raised from the dead around A.D. 28 or 29.
We are very close to His return, according to the prophetic time clock! We immediately see the correlation between what God said to Israel and what He is saying to us. Our responsibility as a church has been to consecrate ourselves for the past two thousand years in preparation for His coming!
What does consecrate mean? We rarely hear the term today. Consecrate means "to sanctify," and sanctify means "to set apart." A good example would be woman selected to become the wife of a king. She would be brought into the palace where the king's eunuchs would care for her. The eunuchs' responsibility would be to prepare her for the king. No longer would she live a normal life, as other women would, for she was consecrated, sanctified, or set apart for the king.
However, if she cooperated, the sanctification would be a small price compared to the tremendous benefits she would receive. She would enjoy intimate privileges with the king no one else would share. All that he had would be hers. In return, what did the king expect from her? She was to be his, only his.
This example perfectly illustrates what God meant when He said, "You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be My very own" (Lev. 20:26 NLT).
God was saying to Israel when He told them to consecrate themselves, "I have delivered you out of Egypt. Now get Egypt out of you. This will prepare you for My coming on the beginning of the third day." He stated, "And let them wash their clothes." Their clothes still had the filth of Egypt on them.
Even so today God says to us, "I have delivered you out of the world, now get the world out of you! This will prepare you for My coming at the beginning of the third thousandth year." We are to rid ourselves of the filth of the world by washing our garments. Recall Paul's words: "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1 NKJV).
Paul tells us to cleanse the garments of our flesh and spirits, even as Moses told the children of Israel to wash their physical clothes. I want to make a very pointed statement here: we are to wash ourselves. We are not to leave it to the Lord! Paul does not say, "And the blood of Jesus will rid you of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, so just believe in His love." Does the blood of Jesus cleanse us from all sin or filthiness? The answer is undoubtedly yes! Yet, we have a part in this cleansing process.
One of two things is going to happen in the life a believer: either he is going to be transformed into the image of Jesus by allowing the Word of God that is spoken in the presence of Jesus into the image of what his heart dictates, or he is going to conform Jesus into the image of what his heart dictates.
Excerpt permission granted by Messenger International
John is an international minister and best selling author known for his bold and uncompromising approach to God's Word. His resources have been translated into over 110 languages, and over 40 million copies have been given away worldwide. When he's home in Nashville, you can find John playing competitive card games with his four sons or trying to convince Lisa to take up golf.
