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The Red Thread

A study about the overriding theme of the Holy Scriptures. As a finely woven tapestry the Word of God contains one dominant thread; That God desires fellowship with mankind and has provided a way to erase all barriers of sin by the shedding of The Blood of The Lamb.

Sparrows and tough love

Matthew 6:26  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 

Proverbs 6:6  Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: 

Proverbs 6:7  Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 

Proverbs 6:8  Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. 

Dottie and I have been watching a drama of nature unfolding in our back yard. We put up a blue bird house a while back and had some bluebirds in it for a while. This spring though a pair of sparrows beat the bluebirds to it and have fostered a couple of hatchlings. This week a young bird finally came out of the nest, but has been trying to get back in. The mother keeps forcing him away. The young male sparrow has been sitting on the privacy fence or in front of the box begging for food. The mother has ignored him. Do you see any modern day parallels here? There is a balance between trusting God to feed us and not worrying about our sustenance and learning from the ant to not be a sluggard.

The Order of Melchizadek

Three orders of priests are mentioned in the Bible; The Levitical order, the order of Melchizadek and the priests of Baal. The Melchizadek order has certain unique distinctives. It's priests must be born again into it as a member of the Body of Christ. They can be from Jewish or Gentile backgrounds, male or female, bond or free. They offer spiritual sacrifices. They have One Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ. They all have equal constant access to the throne of Grace. They will as all Melchizadek priests function as priests and kings. As in all priesthoods there is a division of gifts and administrations. The established order of male headship begun in the Garden of Eden is maintained in the position of elders and teachers.

The seven resurrections (raptures)

There is a great debate that is ongoing among believers. That is the issue over the the timing of the "rapture".  It began very early, even during the days of Paul the apostle.


2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

Here Paul comforts the believers in Thessalonica  who were troubled over the false teaching that they were about to go into the tribulation. Two simultaneous events were to happen before the day of Christ and before the man of sin would be revealed. 1. the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and 2. our gathering together unto Him which is commonly called the "rapture" today.
 This gives us a basic chronology for the Church.  The doubts are partly generated by the thinking that there is only one rapture. I believe the Bible describes 7 different resurrections. 


1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

The preceding passage teaches among other things that every person ever born will be resurrected. SO there is a "rapture" going to happen to everbody; Jews, Gentiles, Church of God, believers and unbelievers, Old Testament saints and New Testament saints. Also it teaches that every man will be resurrected in his own order. The word order means battalion or group. It does not tell us here how many battalions there are. We know of three from the Book of Revelation that are mentioned that will occur from the time of John until  the coming of the New Jerusalem. The"come up hither" in Rev. 4:1 is the Church. The "come up hither" in Rev.11:12 is the two witnesses and those saved during the tribulation including the 144.000. Rev.20:12-14 is the resurrection of the unsaved dead. So there we have three battalions. Before that there is the resurrection of Jesus and also the resurrection of the Old Testament saints that were held captive in Paradise awaiting the payment for their sins. Jesus of course is the firstborn from the dead and all others are in virtue of that resurrection. Now we have 5 battallions. The other two are Enoch and Elijah from the Old Testament. There is a "pre-trib" rapture, a "mid-trib" rapture, and a"post trib" rapture. So in one sense all those views are right but not by themselves. We should try to get the really big picture.