Isa. 63:18-19

18 The people [`am] of thy holiness [qodesh] have possessed [yarash] it but a little while [mits`ar]: our adversaries [tsar] have trodden down [buwc] thy sanctuary [miqdash].

19 We are thine: thou never [`owlam] barest rule [mashal] over them; they were not called [qara'] by thy name [shem]. KJV-Interlinear

18 Thy holy people possessed Thy sanctuary for a little while, Our adversaries have trodden it down. 19 We have become like those over whom Thou hast never ruled, Like those who were not called by Thy name. NASB

Now the question here is, What is the sanctuary, that they have held, and who is it that is holding it?

In Isaiah s time, this might refer to the original Israelites. They held the promises of God since the time of Abraham through David, or for some fourteen generations plus, but the context we are working with here is from the viewpoint of the last generation of human history.

And, when I say last generation of human history, what we are talking about is the last generation where man thinks he is in control of history, or the last generation of man s kingdoms. That is the generation remnant that will survive the Tribulation and who will enter into the Millennium.

That future remnant of mature believers will have been believers for a very short time. At the very most, they will have been believers for seven years, assuming that some of them believed in Christ immediately after the Rapture.

But in all likelihood, many of them will probably not believe in Christ until sometime during the Tribulation.

Nevertheless, the duration of their faith will be short. We know that once a person believes in Christ, their spiritual growth to maturity takes time. You do not grow up immediately. Explain that to any five year old that wants to be big.

Growth takes time and growth, in this case, takes intense study, given the short time frame that will be available to these people. Their study is obvious, since the content of this prayer, which we have been studying, indicates their knowledge of scripture.

The sanctuary is not a reference to some building, but to the temple, which these folks have constructed in their souls.

You have to read the King James version in order to get some clarification of these verses.

We are thine, indicates that these folks are indeed believers in Christ. And despite the fact that the world has attempted to destroy all of Gods Word, which is the building material for His spiritual, temple, These folks have survived through all of those attempts.

In the Tribulation, if you recall our study over these last several months, there will be an overwhelming attack against God, against Christ, and against doctrine. Even as these institutions are attacked in our current day, what with the attack against traditional marriage concepts, with attacks against patriotism, with attacks against law and order, against authority, against immigration, against good education, against business, and so on, these attacks will be turned up incredibly high against truth, in the Tribulation.

What we see today, will be nothing when compared with what life will be like in the Tribulation.

Now for the point of all of this. It matters not, how long you have been a mature believer. Whether you have been a mature believer for a day or for a decade, does not make you any better, than the next person.

The longer a person is in the state of maturity, will naturally give them the opportunity to build up more spiritual production in their life, but there is no competition between believers in that regard.

Likewise, those believers who have lived in the past, believers like Abraham, are not any better off because of their station in history.

Christ is the same today as He was yesterday. Spiritual growth is the same today as it was yesterday. God will respect His Word in you just as He respected it in Abraham, and will respect it in those future folks of the Tribulation.

Likewise, God will not assume authority or rule, over those who refuse to accept Him. Unbelievers prefer their own self-rule and that is what God will grant them in the future. That self-rule however will be the Lake of Fire. Not one of them will be able to improve on their environment. Only God can control the environment that is all around us.

Believers are very different from unbelievers in that regard. God is in charge of the believers life, while the unbeliever presumes charge of his own life. The believer wins a far better eternity, as the unbeliever defiantly charges into oblivion.

Now is the time to post a prayer.