† Acts 21:27-29 ... My spirit has always been pricked by that statement “and forthwith the doors were shut” and intuitively knew that one day I would speak to that issue, which is today.
That phrase has been in my notebook for a long time—and being moved to address it now is an indication to me that as a warning by the Holy Spirit, now is the time for all that have ears to hear need to prepare for and to act on what I have to share today.
Perhaps you’ve never noticed it but the form of this phrase has been used several times under different circumstances in the Gospels.
At † Matthew 25:10 it says “and the door was shut”; at † Luke 11:7 “the door is now shut”; † Luke 13:25 “and hath shut the door” and at † John 20:19 “when the doors were shut” and † John 20:26 “the doors being shut”.
What we must understand for our own physical and spiritual well-being is that these phrases reflect a dramatic change in how things have been for us in a normal life, and for our benefit what soon things they indicate are coming.
You’ve heard it said that “When one door closes, another opens”; well, where God is involved in your life, this can be true but it is not always true. When God closes a door it can be to redirect our lives per His plan or it can be something very negative, which means an end to opportunities or more chances or most seriously, no-more-grace for some (Divine favor—† Rom. 1:19-32)!
In today’s discussion:
We will look at the different ways in which the doors I referred to were shut and how they relate to us in our soon tomorrows.
At † Matthew 25:10 we are told that when the call of the bridegroom happens only those that have been prepared to go with Him can—and for those that have been “foolish”, the door of that opportunity to be among all those that were invited but failed to prepare had the door closed to them—irrevocably, I might add (no fixing that problem).
In this case, there will be lingering regret throughout the 1,000 reign of Jesus for the most of the whole church that lived in these last days because many of its members were too committed to their worldly comfort and interests to attend to what the Holy Spirit wanted to do in their lives (represented by the wise virgins of Matthew 25). And so instead of being admitted inside of that closed door—a majority were excluded and left outside.
At † Luke 13 Jesus plainly declared that the time would come when the open door for all the advantages, benefits, and conditional promises for giving one’s life completely over to God during the needed earthly sanctification process will-be-shut—for those with genuine faith in Jesus, everlasting life will be granted but many other wonderful things to have will be forfeited by lives that continued to be spiritually undisciplined while indulging the fleshly nature. He is the master of the house and He will, at some point, shut the door to many of the promises of God because the conditions for having those promises were never met by the believer.
Moving on:
The time is near whereby our being able to take care of our needs as the responsible adults and godly parents we are expected to be will be stripped away from us. In other words, the day is fast approaching (if you’ll take my word for it, and if not my word at least the evidence that can be seen in world and in our national events) when doors will literally be closed to our doing business as Christians especially. I speak of the everyday business of going to a job, buying food and clothing, getting the medical assistance and aids we need, buying fuel for our vehicles, and even at some point being denied paychecks and legitimate retirement entitlements unless we participate in their antichrist system.
Two things that I hope you can hear:
Prepare for such days by storing food, some water and a water filtration system, stock up on vitamin supplements, medications and OTC pain and allergy aids, if needed, also add the needed things to cook food and to heat one common room at least, and have a good sized, good quality tent and basic outdoor cooking equipment. If you do not do these things, you will be sorry you did not.
Now this is not about begging:
Now this is not about begging from your friend but being ready to ask, seek and knock effectively at Heaven’s door. The flip side of doing what you can to prepare physically for the trouble that lies ahead is to be ready to ask God and trust Him to make up the difference for what you do not have but need during the times ahead. Indeed, the day is close where no man can work, or buy, sell, or have the freedoms we used to have so we must prepare for that day while training ourselves to trust God to supernaturally provide for us (i.e. the cruse of oil and barrel of flour that did not run out at † 1 Kings 17).
Due to Rome’s the religious rulers’ actions:
Due to Rome’s and the religious rulers’ actions against Jesus to the point of killing Him, next on their agenda would be to squash the Christian movement. Three times Peter was recognized as a disciple of Jesus and the others would also be easy to find, and so—persecution and possibly death to the Lord’s followers was about to begin (and indeed soon did).
At † John 20 on the first day of the Lord’s resurrection we find the disciples (except for Thomas) cowering together behind “a closed door”. They had lost their way, they were terrified of being caught and killed also, and their hope in Jesus as the Son of God and their Messiah had been dashed to pieces, no matter that He had foretold this and of His being raised from the dead. So—they hid behind a closed door hoping to be safe and invisible.
The Holy Spirit wants us to face the real possibility of these things happening against us and to prepare our minds and hearts to stand together and not be afraid. We are to face the tough times ahead with peace and having a sure confidence in the Lord most High; He will not leave us comfortless, alone, or hungry.
Thomas was not at that first appearance:
Thomas was not at that first appearance of the resurrected Lord and did not believe the reports of Him being alive but eight days later Thomas was with the disciples, and we find the disciples again behind closed doors.
It seems unlikely that they still had the fears of a week earlier but instead were intimately gathered for fellowship, the sharing of the communion table, and to rehearse all that they had heard Jesus say and see Him do, things that would now make more sense to them, embolden their faith in Him, and to discover more about what they didn’t know as they talked about what the earlier prophets had declared about the Messiah.
This was a more relaxed closed-door meeting for edification, encouragement, and for praise and worship of God—yes, others could attend but the political and religious environment in the city was still charged with suspicion, malice, and a lingering smell of blood for those openly talking about this Jesus of Nazareth.
These circumstances, brothers and sisters, are what we must be ready for and strong to live though ourselves and to at times fully expect a manifest presence of the Holy Spirit and the wonders of God’s fellowship among the true followers of Jesus in times of danger.
For all our tomorrows, let us recognize:
For all our tomorrows, let us recognize the positive things we are to learn by this discussion today. “Forthwith the doors were shut”; for Paul, it was a dramatic turning point in his ministry and a curtailment of his personal freedoms, for today’s unwise virgins (lazy Christians), it is an advance warning that at some point the door will close to all that God desires to give us and include us in—only the wise followers of Jesus will be rewarded with all that God has promised (never forget that Jesus declares: “I know thy works”).
At † Luke 13 Jesus speaks of Himself as the Master of the house and that not all will be included in His house; and at † 2 Timothy 2:20 Paul relates the members of the Church as the furnishings of the Lord’s house and it is implied that by the choices of their lives that those accepted as members in His house will find themselves as honored or not so honored.
Due to the coming hatred of Jews and Jesus followers, the doors of our natural provision and our acceptance in society will slam shut. Jesus said we would be persecuted—even worse than the church in that first century. We must be ready spiritually and physically to endure to the end by an unshakable faith in God for all our needs: Food, water, healing, protection and deliverance, else we, too, will cower in fear behind closed doors.
There's no more time to spiritually dilly-dally
There is no more time to spiritually dilly-dally. Get out your bible every day and read 2 to 3 chapters of it at least, talk to the Lord throughout your day, ask Him to help you become ready for tomorrow while not losing heart if you are challenged by troubles to trust the Lord and not your own self or what man promises to supply.
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