FROM THE HEART OF DR. REXELLA VAN IMPE

Where’s My Eraser?

I’ll never forget my first day of kindergarten. I was barely five years old, but I remember it as vividly as if it had happened yesterday.

Making new friends with all my classmates was exciting, the bright and cheery decorations in our homeroom were beautiful, and my teacher seemed very nice.

But the thing that caught my attention and completely fascinated me was…the blackboard.

Watching the teacher take chalk and draw simple pictures and write letters on the board was interesting. But then she took something in her hand, wiped it back and forth across the surface of the blackboard, and instantly every mark she had made disappeared! I watched in wide-eyed astonishment, absolutely intrigued.

Before my kindergarten year was over, I had the opportunity to try it for myself. I made some chalk marks on the board, then used the eraser to make them go away. I never tired of it. The eraser was my favorite discovery.

Although I’m normally not a person who dwells on the past a great deal, I do often reflect on the blessings and good things God has sent into my life. My husband, Jack, and I make it a point to recall and give thanks for the ministry opportunities, friends, and victories the Lord has given us-and continues to bestow upon us. Somehow it seems my mind is like a recorder.

Your life, the movie

An article from Smithsonian Magazine written by Dr. Wilbur Penfield, director of the Montreal Neurological Institute, explains why I felt that way. He wrote: “Your brain contains a permanent record of your past that is like a single, continuous strip of movie film, complete with sound track. This film library records your whole waking life from childhood on.”

Do you ever have “home movies” from your past running in your mind? Sometimes that’s a good thing, but it can also be painful to be reminded of events and people that have hurt us, or things we have done to injure others.

Perhaps there are incidents in our past that we hope nobody else knows about, and sometimes the devil will replay these hidden shames to torment us.

“Oh, you’re such a bad person,” he says. “Just look at what you did. How can you pretend to be so good when you’re really so rotten?” Revelation 12:10 exposes the devil as the “accuser of our brethren” who accuses us before God day and night. But the good news is that we don’t have to worry about his accusations.

Jack refers to Dr. Penfield’s article in one of the devotionals in his Soul Food book. His comments there certainly helped me better understand the concept of the “book of remembrance” mentioned in the Bible. Truly God is the great Bookkeeper. He has a record of my life in a heavenly book that has my name on it-Rexella Shelton Van Impe. God has kept a record book on all of humanity-every single person who has ever lived.

But just as He has written everything down, good and bad-every failure, fault, and sin-He also has the ability and divine desire to erase everything bad on my record. Oh, praise God for a heavenly eraser that deletes every wrong word or thought or deed!

That eraser, of course, is the blood of Christ. And it washes us clean! It wipes everything off the blackboard!

God’s heavenly eraser leaves no trace behind. Isaiah 1:18 declares, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. And Psalm 103:12 says, As far as the east is from the west-and they never meet-so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Forgiven and forgotten

When our sins are forgiven, they are forgotten. God promises in Hebrews 10:17-And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. In fact, the prophet Micah rejoiced that God will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). Then, according to D. L. Moody and Billy Sunday (I don’t know who said it first), He puts up a great-big sign that says, NO FISHING ALLOWED!

God doesn’t want us to go fishing there, looking for and finding the past. He wants us to forget it just as He has. Yet I think that sometimes after God has erased the blackboard of our lives, we keep bringing up events and things that

God doesn’t remember any more. Our human nature has a tendency to go back and keep rerunning the old mental home movies of what we were like before God saved us and made us new creatures through Christ Jesus.

We must learn how to forget the past and look to our future in Christ. The apostle Paul, acknowledging that he was not perfect, cried out, But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).

Of course, the devil will try to remind us of our past. One of his tools of deception is to keep us looking back. He knows if he can make us feel that our past sins make us unworthy to do anything for God, we cannot be effective in the present.

But we can overcome the devil with our testimony of erased sins through the blood of Christ.

Then God can use our life story-our testimony-to reach other people who need to be set free from the shackles of sin. When others see us walking in victory, it gives them hope.

I heard a story about a little girl who said to her pastor, “I want you to know that I am saved.”

“That’s wonderful, honey,” he said. “Can you tell me which one of my sermons brought you to Christ?”

The little girl replied, “It wasn’t anybody’s preaching-it was my Aunt Mary’s practicing!”

Living the life of Christ day by day is not always easy, but there is such power in our testimony. In Romans 7:19, Paul talks about the struggle he faced every day in doing what was right. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Yet, just a few verses later, he declares, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (8:1).

What’s the secret? Being willing to say, “Where’s my eraser?” Jesus came into the world for a purpose-not only to set the example of a perfect life and to show us God on earth and what we can be though Him, but also to erase the blackboard of our lives again and again! I often find myself saying in my prayer, “Lord, thank You for that eraser.”

Let me make it clear that I certainly am not suggesting that we nonchalantly fail more and sin more, expecting God to erase whatever we do. That’s not what I mean at all. The truth is that even when we do our best to live righteously, there are times when we will not make the right choices. And in those times we can and should say, “Where’s my eraser?”

God is much better at forgiving than we are at sinning!

Eugene Peterson, the pastor who produced The Message a contemporary language version of the Bible, observed that “God is much better at forgiving than we are at sinning.”

Even when we think that we have absolutely gone too far, that we’ve really done it this time, or that what we have done is totally unforgivable, God stands waiting for us with open arms. No matter how “good” we have been at sinning, He is much better at forgiving. No matter what we’ve done (or failed to do), it’s never too bad to be forgiven…and to be erased!

Sin brings shame, but confession brings confidence. The Bible says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We can be victorious in the Lord. We can live a life like Aunt Mary that draws others to Jesus. We may have failed yesterday. We may fail today. But we can ask Him to erase our failures and sins.

Then we can begin anew each day.

There’s a beautiful old hymn called, “An Evening Prayer,” that captures the idea of asking God to erase the blackboard of our lives at the end of each day. It says:

If I have wounded any soul today,
If I have caused one foot to go astray,
If I have walked in my own willful way,
Dear Lord, forgive.
Forgive the sins I have confessed to Thee,
Forgive the secret sins I do not see,
O guide me, love me, and my keeper be,
Dear Lord, Amen

Recently I was witnessing to an acquaintance about accepting God’s forgiveness and beginning a new life in Christ. Oh, how this person wanted to do it, but he kept struggling with some really bad sins-truly evil practices-that he feared had ruined his chance for redemption and taken him beyond forgiveness.

God hates sin…but loves sinners

I shared the amazing truth of Romans 5:6-that Christ died for the ungodly. “It’s true that God hates sin,” I told this friend, “but that does not diminish His love for sinners. He died for the very sins that He hates.

“There is nothing in your life that cannot be forgiven-no stains that He cannot erase,” I said. “When God erases your sins and you begin a new life, not only is your future clean, but your past is clean also. That means every mention of your past failure is erased in God’s book. It will never again be found in those heavenly pages where the greatest Bookkeeper of all records your deeds. “

So far the person I’ve been witnessing to has not given his heart to God and accepted Christ as his Savior. I am praying that the Lord will continue to deal with his troubled heart and love him into His kingdom.

The world we live in today is so troubled and filled with strife, so confused and far from God that many people are filled with fear and anxiety. From a natural standpoint, it would be easy to get our blackboard filled up with worry and dread.

If we as believers study and understand the Word, we see that prophecy is coming true. Every day the news points to the coming of the Lord. But those without the Lord-those who do not know that today’s news points to Christ’s coming-must get dreadfully discouraged. There is no hope outside of Christ.

But we do not have to be sad or fearful because Jesus said, Let not your heart be troubled…I will come again (John 14:1, 3). He also declared, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

If we take our eyes off the Lord and start looking at the world around us, then we’re going to falter. The Gospels tell how Peter started walking on the water to Jesus, and then was distracted by the stormy seas and began to sink. The same thing can happen to us. When we get that sinking feeling, like Peter, we need to cry out to the Lord for help. We need to ask him to erase the turmoil and lack of faith in our hearts. The only cure is to say, “Lord, I missed the mark again. Please erase it, forgive it, and help me start again.”

No regrets! No fear!

You know, because of God’s heavenly eraser, we don’t have to regret the past or fear the future. God has forgiven our past, and He is already in our future. But the only way to get to the future is to live today.

We have absolutely no control over what happened yesterday-and to a large extent, we can’t determine what will come tomorrow. The only time we can really use is now, today, where we are living this minute. We wake up every morning to a clean, fresh page God has given us that is labeled TODAY. And, as I’m sure you’ve heard, it is a gift-that’s why it is called the present!

I challenge you to start living your life to the fullest. Because we know the Lord, this is the most exciting time to be alive since the dawn of creation. Give your best to the Lord. Do your best to make a difference in your family, your neighborhood…in your world. Who knows if God has brought you to the world for just such a time as this?

Yes, there will be challenges. There will be times when you don’t know which way to turn or exactly what you should do. But keep on going with your hand in His. Don’t look at the challenges-just keep your eyes and heart on the Lord. The Bible says, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee (Isaiah 26:3).

That’s where I want to live from now on-how about you?

Remember; don’t be afraid to ask for the eraser when you need it!

A CLASSIC MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR. JACK VAN IMPE

Revelation 4:1

Chapter four of Revelation begins the prophetical future. Remember chapter 1, verse 19: Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. That text presented three tenses and informed us that the Book of Revelation is written in chronological order: the past- chapter 1; the present-chapters 2 and 3 (the history of the seven churches to the present time); and the future-chapters 4 through 22.

Now let’s take a peek at what’s coming.

Verse 1: After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, come up hither; and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

John states, “After this.” After what? After the completion of the history of the seven churches. After this, John sees a door opened in heaven and hears a trumpet-like voice loudly and victoriously crying, Come up hither. This is the Rapture of the church of Jesus Christ. When it occurs, multitudes from all kindreds, people, tongues, and denominations will meet the Saviour face to face.

What is the Rapture? It is the literal, visible bodily coming of Jesus Christ to call out of this world, literally and bodily, every born-again believer-first the dead, then the living. First we see that Jesus is coming bodily. Remember the cultists of bygone days who said that the Lord was about to return? Clothed in white sheets, they sat on the mountainsides in anxious anticipation-but Christ didn’t come. Date-setting is wrong! But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only (Matthew 24:36).

Because of their embarrassment, these cultists immediately stated, “Oh, we were right; Christ did come, but it was an invisible manifestation. He came as a spirit.” Not so! When Jesus Christ returns, both in the Rapture (chapter 4) and at His Revelation (chapter 19), He will come literally, visibly and bodily. Proof? Acts 1:9-11: And when [Jesus] had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. The Lord will return exactly as He left.

How did He leave? Let’s see. In Luke 24:39, Christ appeared to His disciples and said, Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. Then, in verses 41 and 42, He went on to say Have ye here any meat [food]? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. The Lord Jesus Christ possessed a new resurrected body-a body that could be seen, a body that could be touched, and a body that could partake of food-a literal body!

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above [or over] five hundred brethren at once..after that, he was seen of James…and last of all he was seen of me [Paul] also (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). No doubt about it, when He returns and the shout, Come up hither, is given, we will see Him. At this glorious moment, we, too, shall receive new bodies. The Bible teaches in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 17: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Notice that the dead in Christ shall rise first. (Perhaps this is because they have six feet further to rise-to the level of the living. Ha!) Then all of us together are caught up into the heavenlies to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the twinkling of an eye. You don’t believe it? Then listen! Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [be dead], but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we [the living] shall be changed. Watch it. For this corruptible [the dead in Christ] … must put on incorruption, and this mortal [the living in Christ] must put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:51-54). How fast is the twinkling of an eye? Close your eyes for a moment. Open them. That’s it! General Electric Company tells us that the twinkling of an eye is eleven one-hundredths of a second.

Just that quickly, at that blessed moment, we shall be changed to be like Jesus. David said, I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness (Psalm 17:15). John adds that when we see Jesus, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). Then Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, states: [He] shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body (Philippians 3:21). This, then, is the Rapture.

Some Christians say they do not believe in the term rapture. They argue that one cannot find the word rapture in the Bible. Interestingly, one cannot find the term Bible in the Bible either, but I’m holding one! Listen carefully: The word rapture, in English, comes from the Latin, rapiemur which means “a snatching away.” We have just learned from God’s Word that all Christians, living and dead; are going to be snatched away in the twinkling of an eye, so whether one knows it or not, one believes in the Rapture.

The Bible also clearly teaches that there is a difference between the Rapture and the Revelation of Christ. We need to fully understand this truth because it is the basis for understanding the Book of Revelation, prophetical truth, and the placement of signs. Simply stated, there are two aspects, or stages, in the process of Christ’s second coming, and both begin with the letter “r.” We have already designated the first phase as the Rapture. The second phase is called the Revelation. Chapter 4 describes phase one, while phase two is described in chapter 19. The intervening chapters – 6 through 18 – basically cover a seven-year period called the Tribulation. The Rapture (chapter 4) precedes the Tribulation, and the Revelation (chapter 19) follows the seven-year period of judgment. Chapter 4 is a meeting in the air, whereas chapter 19 is a return to the earth. Chapter 4 removes the believer from the judgments described in chapters 6 through 18, and chapter 19 restores the believer to his earthly sojourn as he returns with Christ to planet earth. The Come up hither of Revelation 4:1 is synonymous with the call of 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Immediately following this event, the inhabitants of planet earth experience seven years of incomparable judgment. This judgment ends with the Battle of Armageddon, at which time the door of heaven is again opened (see chapter 19, verses 11 through 16) in order that the believer may exit heaven with Christ for the return trip to earth.

This return of Christ with His saints is called the Revelation, and comes from the word revealing. At that time the Lord will reveal himself to all humanity, so why not call this event the revealing, or revelation, of Christ? Let’s not quibble about the labels concerning the Rapture and the Revelation. The truths are there; believe them! The labels only help one organize the teaching systematically.

The question often arises, “Will the church of Jesus Christ be on earth during the Tribulation hour?” The answer is an emphatic, “NO!” The Church is mentioned sixteen times in the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation, but is not found in chapters 6 through 18-the Tribulation period. Why?

First of all, the Tribulation is Israel’s time of suffering. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it (Jeremiah 30:7). And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people [Israel]: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people [Israelites] shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book (Daniel 12:1).

Secondly, the first sixty-nine weeks of Daniel’s prophecy involved Israel. Why wouldn’t the seventieth week? The Bible is plain: Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people [Israelites] and upon thy holy city [Jerusalem] (Daniel 9:24). That is why the signs in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 17 and 21 have to do with Israel and the Middle East.

Thirdly, during the Tribulation hour, the people involved are instructed to pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day (Matthew 24:20). Israel is eternally identified with the Sabbath day (see Ezekiel 20: 12, 20).

Fourthly, when Christ returns to Jerusalem (see Zechariah 14:4), all the tribes of the earth mourn (see Matthew 24:30). The mourners are the twelve tribes of Israel, numbering hundreds of thousands of individuals who were brought to repentance by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish representatives from each of the twelve tribes (12,000 per tribe).

Finally, the persons experiencing the woes of the Tribulation Hour are never called “a synagogue,” but rather the church (Acts 2:47).

As already stated, the Church cannot be found in Revelation 6 through 18, the portion of the book describing the horrible Tribulation hour. Israel, however, is seen in the midst of the holocaust (see Revelation 12:1-13). This correlates with the elect of Matthew 24:22. Jesus said, And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. This elect group is not the Church but Israel, for God has two elect groups upon earth-the Church and Israel. First, let’s look at the Church. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love (Ephesians 1:4). This chosen group is called the elect in 1 Peter 1:2. However, the Church, the bride of Christ, elected to be His sweetheart and wife for all eternity, is not in view in Matthew 24:22.

Instead, this text has Israel, the wife of Jehovah, in mind. What? How can that be? Where was Israel chosen? In Genesis 12:2, 3 God said, And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

In Deuteronomy 7:7 and 8, the Israelites were again reminded of their elect status: The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers… [He chose you]. This oath that chooses Israel as an elect group of people has never been abrogated: For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance-or without change of mind (Romans 11:29). Because of God’s unchanging covenant or oath, Romans 11:26-28 declares, And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.., as touching the election (the elect), they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.

When God chose Israel as His elect wife, He chose her forever because the calling of God is without change of mind. Though Jehovah’s spouse has often committed spiritual adultery by turning to iniquity and idolatry, still Jehovah loves her because God abides faithful. There is no doubt about it, Israel is the elect group mentioned in the Gospels for whom the days of judgment will be shortened. Israelites are the ones who will pray that their flight for safety will not be on the Sabbath (their day of worship); who will suffer persecution in their own synagogues (only Jews meet in synagogues); and who have the name of Jacob, and who will experience Jacob’s time of trouble (see Jeremiah 30:7), for Jacob is Israel (see Romans 11:26).

Hence, a period of seventy weeks is determined upon Israel (see Daniel 9:24). The nation of Israel has seen Jerusalem compassed [about] with armies (Luke 21:20), and will again observe the armies of the world poised against Jerusalem for the final war as God gathers all nations against Jerusalem to battle (Zechariah 14:2). This definitely is not the Church. All Christians slipped out through the open door in the fourth chapter before the judgments of heaven and earth began to be unleashed in the sixth chapter. They were evacuated when the shout, Come up hither, was given.

There are those who say that Revelation 4:1 is an exclusive picture of John the Beloved in a vision, being caught away in the presence of God. Therefore, they reason, this has nothing to do with anyone else, including the Church. This argument is fallacious because chapter 4, verse 10 states: The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever; and cast their crowns before the throne. When will believers be crowned? Immediately after the Rapture. Proof: Thou shalt be recompensed [rewarded] at the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14). Again: And when the chief Shepherd shall appear [His coming], ye shall receive a crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4). Obviously, the Judgment Seat of Christ must take place before believers are crowned. Then they lay these crowns at Christ’s feet, in verses 10 and 11, meaning they are already in His presence. The only way they could have gotten there is through the Come up hither of verse 1. We must also remember that John, the representative of all of God’s people, is shown the things which must be hereafter and the things that will happen, both in heaven and on earth. Chapters 4 and 5 picture that which takes place in heaven, while chapters 6 through 18 picture that which occurs on earth-the Tribulation.

CHANGED LIVES-one at a time

Dear Rexella,

Thank you so much for your emails, every time when I receive your message my spirit is being fulfilled. You and your husband gave me the knowledge to understand the word of God. We miss both of you. From South Africa

Your sister in Christ,

Nora M.

HIGHLIGHTED MINISTRY OFFERS

The Prophetic Voice of Dr. Jack Van Impe

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