Edition 94. September 28th 2011
Where are we in prophecy now?
News events and comment.
●UN votes to send Palestinian statehood bid for review by UN committee.
●Israeli cabinet turns down Quartet plan for talks with Palestinians.
●Iran sends submarines to Red Sea and announces that they have new Cruise missiles with a 200km range.
●Palestinian Authority says they are one vote shy of a majority in the UN Security Council. 8 out of 9 members back the Statehood bid.
●US stops $200 million aid to Palestinians as "collective punishment" for their statehood bid. (Jerusalem Post 1st October)
●UN Vote on statehood bid drags on. Source says UN won't pass the bid until diplomacy exhausted.
Where are we in prophecy now?
Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets) has come and gone uneventfully. This simply means that the expectation of many of us, was not met. (Previous edition) What we dare not do is throw the baby out with the bathwater and become "end time scoffers, saying where is the hope of His coming" (2 Peter3:3-4)
God knows the exact time based on His calendar. All manmade calendars including the Hebrew calendars, have been changed many times in history, it makes things very difficult, nonetheless we're commanded by our Lord to watch, know the signs, and be ready.
Time is extremely short....the wise will use this delay to go about the things of our Lord more seriously.
What we need to do is be completely objective, get rid of all subjective man-made opinions and go to the root of these issues. We must also distinguish between what we know for sure and the things we can't be absolutely sure of.
What we know for sure:
The seven Feasts of the Lord have a prophetic fulfilment. The first four were fulfilled in time and space exactly to the date. The prophetic fulfilment of the feasts must logically occur in order. For example, the feast of Passover was fulfilled at the cross of Calvary and the feast of First Fruits was fulfilled at the resurrection. You can't have the resurrection before the cross. The next three Feasts to be fulfilled are Trumpets, Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. Again they must be fulfilled in that order.
In various places the Bible divides the tribulation period into time frames. It uses two periods of 1260 days. Two periods of 42 months, two periods of three and a half years and one seven year period. All of these are the same thing which is a period of 2520 days or seven years divided into two halves. (It is using the Hebrew calendar which is 360 days to the year) Here are some of the verses: Daniel 7:25. Daniel 9:27 Daniel 12:7, Revelation 11:2, Revelation 12:14, Revelation 13:5.
The Feast of Trumpets will be fulfilled with the start of the tribulation (and rapture if you're a pre-tribber) Tabernacles will be fulfilled by the start of the Millennium. So, the time period between the prophetic fulfilments of Trumpets and Tabernacles must be 7 years or 2520 days, because that's the length of the tribulation as revealed in the verses above. Because this is a 360 day-lunar Hebrew calendar, there is a slight difference in the days. 2011 to 2018 qualified as a 2520 period, That is now gone because Trumpets this year did not begin the tribulation. 2014 to 2020 is the next period of 2520 days between Trumpets and Tabernacles. So, this qualifies for fulfilment.
The table below makes this very clear
So, this is our next big watch!
Now, we're in a situation where the tribulation period can't begin until Rosh Hashanah 2014. The date then is Thursday 25th September (Tishrei1) and Friday 26th September (Tishrei 2)
We can be very sure that the tribulation will begin on Rosh Hashanah and we can be reasonable sure that it will be 2014
What we can't know for sure:
●Comet Elenin at this point is a joke. It may still appear out of the dark, but don't put any weight on it at all. Besides, it has no relevance to prophecy any longer.
●The 70-year generation starting with Israel's Independence in 1948 and running through to 2018 (come forward seven years the tribulation) is still in play, but won't be if the tribulation now begins in 2014.
Let's have a close look at that verse: Psalm 90:10 "The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years."
Okay, so we have seventy years but also a big IF! If by reason of strength they are eighty. Now if we add 80 years to the starting point of 1948, we come to 2028 for the second advent and 2021 for the start of the tribulation. BUT, now let's go to Matthew's "generation" verse.
Matthew 24:32-34 "Now learn the parable from the fig tree (Israel) When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves you know the summer is near. So you also when you see all these things, know that it is very near even at the very doors. Assuredly I say to you this generation will by no means pass away, till all these things are fulfilled."
Nowhere does it say that "all these things need to be fulfilled" right at the end of the generation. The language used could mean anytime in generation, not so? We must be careful of presuming things. So, if we extend the generation to 80 years as in Psalm 90:10, it still doesn't mean the very end of the generation, although it could.
In other words the Matthew 24:34 generation can't give us an exact time, so let's not presume it can.
If the tribulation starts at Rosh Hashanah 2014 and ends in 2020, the 80 year generation fits in but doesn't give us the exact time. In fact any Rosh Hashanah between now and then would still be within the 80 years.
So yes we can accurately say "this is the generation" but now we can't use that verse to tell us which Rosh Hashanah it will be. So, out goes the 70-year and 80-year generation as an exact time giver.
●What about the blood moons due for 2014 - 2015 marking the mid tribulation point of Revelation?
Joel 2:30-32 "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth; blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said among the remnant whom the Lord calls."
Revelation 6:12-14 "I looked when He opened the sixth seal and behold there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. Verse 17 "For the great day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand."
Interestingly the original word used for great earthquake here is "mega-Seismoj" and it means great seismic activity or earthquake or a great tempest or great shaking. It could also be used for Volcano, which throws enormous clouds of ash into the air. If the earthquake is large enough it will produce many great volcanoes, which would darken the sun and make the moon appear red.
These verses do not use the term "blood moons", they say the moon will turn to blood and the sun will go dark at that mid tribulation mark. This starts the Great Tribulation, which is the culmination of the biggest disasters and judgements than anyone could imagine.
Could it be that the moon goes blood red and the sun goes dark because of ash clouds from massive volcanoes or other particles in the air? A blood moon caused by an eclipse doesn't make the sun go dark!
So the eclipse-created blood moons of 2014 /2015 may have no prophetic relevance at all!
If these eclipse-created blood moons are not the real deal what is it that causes the sun to be darkened and the moon to turn red? We need to look into the surrounding verses as well They imply that these events will cause huge geo-physical upheavals on the earth. Can an eclipse cause these?
I think a much greater probability would be other astronomical events like the results of earthquakes or asteroids or some other similar events.
In previous editions I have supported the eclipse-blood moons. I'm now forced to use my brain and look a bit further!
Eclipse-created blood moons around Rosh Hashanah 2014 may well have some message, but it won't be to mark mid-tribulation.
What about Wormwood? Revelation 8:10-11 "Then the third angel sounded; and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water and the name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died because of the bitter waters."
This is also what will cause the sun to darken and the moon to go red.
At mid tribulation there will be huge monumental disasters coming from what the Bible calls "mountains falling from the sky" "stars falling from the sky and a "giant star falling to the earth." These will be meteor showers, asteroids hitting the earth and a giant asteroid or something similar. many will die. That does not happen with eclipses.
Where does this leave us?
This now leaves us with a bit more time on our hands to do the things of God and to carry on watching.
The seventy-year generation is now off the radar, while an eighty-year generation fits, but doesn't give an exact time.
Eclipse-created blood moons are almost meaningless.
Comet Elelnin is completely meaningless prophetically.
We are left with one sure thing and that is its going to be a Rosh Hashanah.
What to watch for:
●The tribulation period begins with the signing or "confirming" of a seven year peace treaty with Israel and the person who will be revealed as the antichrist in that act.
●We need to watch for the socio-political environment to deteriorate into wars and conflict, so that the world will be clamouring for peace.
●We need to watch for the war in which Damascus will be destroyed, this may occur in the tribulation period, but also may occur beforehand and be part of the overall conflict calling for the peace treaty.
●We need to watch for Iran to make good on its desire to "wipe Israel off the map." Iran and Syria are bosom buddies and could act in collaboration against Israel, seeing both of them heavily defeated by Israel, with God's help.
●We need to watch for the great war of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38& 39) In which Russia leads a host of mainly Muslim nations against Israel. Russia's Vladimir Putin has re-emerged as the leader of that nation again. He will take the office of President again soon.
●The Palestinian statehood bid is likely to fail at the UN, but the statehood bid itself will continue. We need to watch for that to occur through negotiations or any other platform. When it becomes reality it will evoke the fury and anger of God, bringing war and destruction and not peace. This may also be one of the issues leading to a the peace treaty.
●We need to watch for developments allowing for the building of the next temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This may be part of that peace treaty as well. The temple only needs to be there by mid-tribulation, but we could well see developments start very soon.
●We need to watch for Europe to either collapse or be reformed into a new entity. It's on the verge of that now. We are very likely to see economic collapse leading to the breakup of Europe. It will then reform with 10 of the stronger nations. Watch for Turkey to arise as it join the new EU.
●Watch for world economic collapse. We are on the way there now. This will lead to a situation of world depression and poverty and just the sort of climate for antichrist control. That will take place in the tribulation, but we will see forerunners of it beforehand.
●Watch for the decline of the US. It most certainly has received some reprieve for standing against the Palestinian statehood bid process at the UN. This will not last because the US is in favour of statehood, just not through the UN now.
●Watch for ever increasing natural upheavals and disasters.
●We can watch for extra-Biblical events, but be careful of putting too much emphasis on them.
Some thoughts
The rapture of the church, whenever it occurs will be the most dramatic and monumental event the world has seen since the days of Noah.
It will immediately reveal who is truly saved, who is not and who is a counterfeit. There may be a lot less people who really are saved than statistics reveal. But there will still be a large amount of people on a worldwide scale.
Imagine what that will do for all those left behind. It will cause disruptions on an enormous scale in every aspect of life.
Imagine what that will do for the already teetering world economy! It will send markets into the biggest crash they have ever seen.
It will cause so much catastrophe that only someone as brilliant as the new world leader empowered by Satan will be able to fix...and he will! The nations of the world will gladly give their authority over to him in a flash.
The Bible says that we as believers need to judge ourselves "so that we be not judged" We need to examine ourselves to see if we are really in the faith and clean up our acts.
Here's a shocking thing: Those who've removed judgement from their doctrine, because they don't like it, have no fear of God.
Think about this. If there were no laws of the land and no courts with judges and magistrates, you would have nothing to fear from the law. But what would be the result of that? Anarchy and dirty ungodliness, would be the result.
So then, the doctrines of coming judgement, and the fear of God resulting in holiness are all linked. The church is in such a mess because their leaders have exalted themselves above God, judged Him and His word.
Judging self and fearing God makes you very clean!!
Knowledge of soon coming judgment is a wakeup call and a call to salvation and repentance and not punishment, but if our Lord and His ways are rejected the judgment comes.
Finally:
If we are now to expect a 2014 tribulation start, I can tell you one thing for sure; the next three years are going to be exciting and catastrophic! We are privileged to be in this time as God's own servants!
I think we will now see things falling into place a lot more clearly.
The most important factor of prophecy is YOU and your heart before our great, soon coming King, Messiah and God.
Job 34:29 "When He gives quietness, who can then make trouble? And when He hides His face, who can see Him, weather it is a nation or a man alone."
Job 42:5-6 "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my )spiritual) eye sees You, therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."
Heaven or hell:
Following the crowd will never get you anywhere. The crowd is more often wrong than right. The crowd will lead you straight to hell. The crowd rejects that idea, they think they're all okay because they're all in the same boat. Their crowd-speak rejects God's ways and elevates their own. It takes courage to stand out from the crowd!
Crowd-think is very dangerous indeed. Crowd manipulation, intimidation and domination are easy to achieve through the barrel of a gun. The problem is that crowds become very gullible and easily influenced. The way to victory is the way of exact opposite. Paul the apostle spent 14 years almost alone in the desert before his ministry even began.
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Here's one of my own paintings of a giant Baobab tree. These trees live for over 3000 years and often have a circumference of over 40m. They have enormous deep root systems as they're found in arid drought areas. Of course that's the analogy for us too. We need to be deeply rooted in the nourishment of our Messiah, because we dare not be fed by arid, godless wisdom of the world.
Kind regards and many blessings...Shalom and grow in grace!
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