the disciples asked, "where, Lord"....

[Wheeler]

The disciples asked "where, Lord?" when he told them that two would be in the field, two would be grinding and two in bed....that one would be taken and one would be left. This separation of the two is the severing of the wicked from the righteous....the bundling of the tares and the gathering of the wheat....the dividing the goats from the sheep. Where is this going to happen?

(Psa 79:2 KJV) The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

Compare:

(Luke 17:37 KJV) And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

Since Jesus quoted Psalms 79 for the answer....almost like a riddle....it should be read a little more closely:

(Psa 79:1 KJV) A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

It is interesting to note that ASAPH means to gather for any purpose; hence to receive, take away, i.e. remove. This is a song of the gathering of the sheep who hear the Lord's voice and the rejection of the "heathen" who do not. They do not receive the love of the truth so that they may be saved. The "heathen" are the wicked within the CHURCH...they have come into the Lord's inheritance and defiled His holy temple....his body....the wheat. It is here that the separation occurs....within our own churches....within the body of Christ. The church "fathers" have introduced doctrines and practices that all of us continue to follow...we have sinned and don't even know it....our sins are not deliberate.

Psalms 79: 8 Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.

If we repent of our ways, God is merciful and forgives. We are in "desperate need" because the enemy within the churches has risen to power over the saints and causes the world to blaspheme the name of God because of their hypocritical ways. Many follow them. If we repent and call out to God, He will purge away our sins.

(Psa 79:9 KJV) Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.

His name will be glorified and not be continued to be blasphemed by the world because of the hypocrites and the many who follow after their ways:

(2 Pet 2:2 KJV) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

The world is heaping insults and scorn upon the church (the Lord's body) because of the hypocrites:

(Psa 79:4 KJV) We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

But every word they speak will be accountable to the Lord:

(Psa 79:12 KJV) And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

We are like "prisoners" who haven't been released from underneath those who hold power over us. The Lord will release us:

(Psa 79:11 KJV) Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;

We are to be redeemed from this situation....and be saved from the judgment that is to come upon those that practice sin within the church....the Lord sends his messengers to weed out of the kingdom of heaven all things that cause sin and those that do them. They (the wicked within the church) are like sheep....destined for the grave:

Psalms 49:

13 This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.

Their ways are sinful (within the church) and many follow after them....they approve of their sayings.

14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

The upright will prevail....the gates of hell will not prevail....God will redeem His people from their power and from His wrath that is to come upon them. He shall receive us.

15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.

(Psa 50:5 KJV) Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

 

[gentlestorm]

Does this scripture have to mean a time for the collective humanity or the individual?
Can it refer to the day when the old man is seen completely for what he is and renounced?
Just a thought.

 

[Wheeler]

Hi gentlestorm,

I think one can look inside oneself and see the "old man" individually....God calls people to repent ....to change one's mind and RETURN to Him (meaning they once knew Him but strayed away):

(Ezek 14:6 KJV) Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

There are "idols" within our churches....there are "abominations" (detestable practices) within our churches....we all have followed them....they were introduced by the church fathers and church leaders. We essentially bear the punishment of their sins...we have inherited their ways and thinking:

(Lam 5:7 KJV) Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

Psalms 79:

8 Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.
9 Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.


We, as Christians, need to be forgiven for the sins of following the ways of the wolves that have entered within the church. Paul wept for THREE years concerning this:

Acts 20:
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

The Lord has a controversy with the pastors of the flock....because they perpetuate the condition of spiritual hunger and thirst of those entrusted to their care...they feed not the flock:

Jeremiah 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

The leaders of the church have caused the vineyard to be unfruitful....to be desolate:

(Jer 12:10 KJV) Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

They have



(Jer 2:8 KJV) The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

In fact they RUN to those things that do not profit the flock:

(Jude 1:11 KJV) Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.


These are all warnings written to the church only....not to the outside world....only to those within the kingdom of heaven. The messengers are going to come and weed out all these things and people. How soon I hope it happens....because then the people of the kingdom will be able to SHINE to the rest of the world...something it is not doing right now. In fact, the world is presently heaping scorn on us because of the behavior of the tares. We have NOT brought salvation to the world as we should have because of those holding it back:

(Isa 26:18 KJV) We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

The church is asleep in the dust presently...and needs to "awaken" and then we will shine in the kingdom to the rest of the world:

Psalms 57:8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.

Again, the church needs to wake up...almost like a resurrection from death...from being ineffective as a light to the world...we have lost our saltiness...we are to be the salt of the world...to preserve life:

Isaiah
52:1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

The "uncircumcised and the unclean" are the tares within the kingdom of heaven that are to be removed by the angels at the harvest.

2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

We are captive prisoners underneath our church leaders who do not feed us with truth....they have given us spiritual leavened bread instead of pure bread...to worship God in spirit and truth.

3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.