BRACE YOURSELF LIKE A MAN
“Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”
(Job 38:3)
For those who “stand their watch”, who even now have “set themselves upon the rampart”, who “watch to see what He will say to them” (Habakkuk 2:1), being those who have all “braced themselves like a man” for the day when “He will question them”, for question them He must and will, and “they shall all answer Him” (Job 38:3), these are those who whilst they stand upon the rampart and watch, they have also “set their faces like flint, for they know they shall not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7). For these who stand vigil, and have set their faces like flint, are those who are quietly confident and assured that it is none other than “the great I AM” (Exodus 3:14), being “He who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty One” (Revelation 1:8), “the Sovereign LORD”, that not only helps them, but who will also “never allow them to be disgraced” (Isaiah 50:7).
And by taking their stand to watch, and positioning themselves on the rampart, being therefore ready to receive Him when He arrives, so that when they receive Him to hear whatever He would say to them when He comes, for come He shall, whether we all be ready or not (Matthew 25:1-13), those who in anticipation have therefore turned their faces forever towards the rising sun of the face of the LORD, are those who when the cry will be heard at midnight: “‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’“ (Matthew 25:6), they will go out in the dark hours of midnight (being representative of the apex of the darkness that prevails in the world) to meet their bridegroom.
And as with the parable of the “five wise virgins”, where the number five is the “number of liberty and freedom”, for from that day onwards these five will be those amongst us who shall all walk in abundant liberty and genuine freedom (John 10:10), for they will walk with both the divine nature and eternal power released within and upon them, they will be those who even now have made themselves ready to trim their lamps so that they may take their lamps out to meet Him when He comes. For these lamps are none other than the living lamps of “the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19), lamps that glow like the burning bush of Moses (Exodus 3:3), being all those who are on fire but who are not burned up, being all those who are a light on a high hill that cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14), for they are all aflame with the peculiar oil and the unusual fire of “the Spirit of God upon them, and the Word in their mouths” (Isaiah 59:23).
For when these particular watchman all take their lamps to go out to meet Him, and then, having been received of Him on the day when for all those who are still in the world He shall come “as a thief in the night” (Revelation 3:2-3), which will be right at the beginning of the tribulation period, for we shall most certainly and definitely enter into the great tribulation, those who watch and are ready shall all “walk with Him in white” (Revelation 3:4). Which is the brilliant white of being clothed at the onset of the great tribulation with the seven-fold sun of “their glorified bodies” (Revelation 3:5). For these are those who upon His coming, He found to be wearing the required garment of His bride, not just the garment of salvation. For it is written in Zephaniah 1:12 that He will search “all of Jerusalem with lamps”, being the five wise virgins (brides) of the ten virgins (all those who are saved) who have gone out to meet Him with their lamps trimmed. And upon that eventful day of His assured and imminent return, in the twinkling of an eye, the five wise virgins shall all suddenly “walk before Him in the land of the living” (Psalm 116:9). Which is the land of those living the “abundant life” He has come to give us all who would turn from their own ways and those of the world. Which is the life of those finally living and walking with the white garment of the glorified body. For just as “My soul waits for the Lord, more than the watchmen for the morning; indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning” (Psalm 130:6), so too does “all of creation wait with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19).
But for those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; being those who worship and swear oaths by the LORD, but who also swear by Milcom; being those who instead of wearing the white of the bride, wear “foreign apparel”, for they are those who are saved but yet still serve the ways of the world and the flesh, being those who have turned back from following the LORD, and have not sought the LORD, nor inquired of Him” (Zephaniah 1:5-6), the LORD has this to say:
“Be silent in the presence of the Lord God;
For the day of the Lord is at hand,
For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
He has invited His guests.
“And it shall be,
In the day of the Lord’s sacrifice,
That I will punish the princes and the king’s children,
And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
In the same day I will punish
All those who leap over the threshold,
Who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
“And there shall be on that day,” says the Lord,
“The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate,
A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills.
Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh!
For all the merchant people are cut down;
All those who handle money are cut off.
“And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are settled in complacency,
Who say in their heart,
‘The Lord will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
Therefore their goods shall become booty,
And their houses a desolation;
They shall build houses, but not inhabit them;
They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.”
The great day of the Lord is near;
It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter;
There the mighty men shall cry out.
That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
A day of trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities
And against the high towers.
“I will bring distress upon men,
And they shall walk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against the Lord;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust,
And their flesh like refuse.”
Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to deliver them
In the day of the Lord’s wrath;
But the whole land shall be devoured
By the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make speedy riddance
Of all those who dwell in the land.”
(Zephaniah 1:7-18)
But for those who have not served two masters (Matthew 6:24) for they have chosen not to serve mammon and the ways of the world, but only the LORD, the LORD has this to say:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
(I Peter 1:3-5)
Which is the revealing of the glorified sons of God during the last time that is the time of the great tribulation.
For we are to pattern ourselves after Jesus. Who is one who in all seasons and times, and in all things, braced Himself like a man. For like a man, He braced Himself and answered all the devil’s tough questions when the devil tested Him in the wilderness (Matthew 4). And who, like a man, braced Himself and answered all the tough questions that all the religious leaders and Pontius Pilate asked of Him (John 18). And like a man, braced Himself and answered all the tough questions His Father asked of Him when He said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not my will, but Your will.” (Matthew 26:39).
But for all those who, when the great tribulation comes, will likewise also need to brace themselves like a man, for the tribulation will come, and will soon be upon us, the great tribulation will ask of every man many tough questions. For the tribulation will be for all men a pattern of the questioning after the likeness and similitude of Jesus being tested in the wilderness, before the world, and in Gethsemane, and like Jesus and Job, and like those in Zephaniah and Habakkuk and every age, all will have to brace themselves like men, and answer before both God and men the tough questions the tribulation will surely ask.
“Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”
(Job 38:3)