prophecy – Page 20

Why eschatology matters (and hopefully making a comeback)

Posted on March 29, 2018March 29, 2018 by elizabethprata

As you know, this blog is called The End Time, because we are in the end time. This is the period between Jesus’ first and second comings, where He is building His church. When His church is complete, He will call the Church home. It take it as a duty given by command in the Bible to be fervent with His message, since His return is (always) imminent and our duty then shall be no more. Redeem the time and act with eagerness every day, because the end time will end some day.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Eschatology often gets a bad reputation as a doctrinal field of study because of the plethora of ‘theologians’ who either dismiss it entirely in dusgust, or who set dates, add newspaper eisegesis to it, or who are just plain “Kooks & Barneys“, as Pastor Mike Abendroth says. For some reason this field draws out the less solid teachers.

Other Christian fields of study such as Pneumatology, Hamartiology, Theology Proper / Paterology, Christology, Bibliology, Soteriology, and Ecclesiology don’t seem to draw out the kooks as much. Apologies to those of you who ARE solid expounders of ‘last things’! But it’s true. Eschatology gets a bad rap and quite often, it’s warranted.

I’ve noticed in the last ten years that it seems to be to be a low point in Eschatological study, maybe because of different -ologies falling in and out of favor. However in these last few weeks I’ve noticed credible ministries teaching on it. The Master’s Seminary had a series recently, from which I captured this screen shot from Dr. Nathan Busenitz teaching an introductory lesson to his series. One of the important reasons to study Eschatology is because as is stated below, one’s view of last things reveals one’s approach to interpreting scripture.

Holiness – “Our future hope promotes present obedience.”

The Master’s Seminary also put forth an essay titled 7 Reasons Your Church Should Take Eschatology Seriously, an essay worth reading, for sure! Reason #1 of the seven:

People are interested in the future

Christians are interested in what the future holds. But if we do not teach eschatology, we are denying important biblical information for those who want to know what the Bible has to say about the future. We are also withholding a major source of the hope that the Scripture wants us to have.

At the Grace To You website, a blog series is underway, today’s installment is called The Eschatology of the Thief by Cameron Buettel

Eschatology is a hotly debated subject among modern believers. It concerns the study of the “end times,” last things, or future events in God’s redemptive plan. Its scope includes Christ’s return, the rapture, the millennium, future judgment, and God’s kingdom. Those are all broad and important issues—it’s understandable why a lot of ink has been spilled by people staking out their particular positions.
But there’s also an intensely personal aspect to our eschatological views. And that concerns the only two possible eternal destinations for every person who has ever existed.

I hope Eschatology as a Christian field of doctrinal study and preaching is making a comeback. Meanwhile please bookmark these three resources and enjoy their offerings so far on eschatology!

new jerusalem verse

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The sun in prophecy

Posted on March 28, 2018 by elizabethprata

It’s spring. At this time of year here in the south the weather can be just as turbulent as my former home up in New England. In the south, spring means many days of cloudy and rainy weather. I can’t remember the last time we saw the sun, and we have had indoor recess for too many days to count.

I love the sun. When it comes out all bright and warm, it feels so good, doesn’t it! The golden hour at dawn and sunset is beautiful, when the sun’s shadows lengthen and the air seems to turn to liquid gold. The fluffy clouds sailing along against the blue sky seem to frame the yellow orb as it makes its way through the sky from low to high then low again. It’s an orderly celestial march, one we take for granted, even when the sun is hidden behind clouds. We know it will come back.

Except, one day, it won’t.

When we think of God we often think of Jesus, of God’s glory, His majesty or sovereignty. He is Creator, of course, but if we think of Him in this way we often restrict our thoughts to Genesis, when creation was first made.

His creative work wasn’t restricted solely to creating it. He sustains it, (Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:17), and He will UNcreate it. (Revelation 6). Then He will make all things new. (Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21:5).

The sun is featured prominently in end time prophecy. In the first set of judgments, the Seal Judgments, the sun goes black as sackcloth. (Revelation 6:12). In Revelation 8:12 the Trumpet judgments, we read-

Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.

Can you imagine how scary that will be?

When the demons are allowed to leave the pit in Revelation 9:2, there are so many of them that the sun is blotted out by the cloud they make. In Revelation 16:8 the sun grows so hot that men are scorched just by being outside. In Revelation 19:17 an angel stands in the sun to pronounce judgment, and finally in Matthew 24:29 we read that after the end of the Tribulation, the sun, moon, and stars go completely dark.

This phenomenon of the sun going completely dark is mentioned not just in Revelation and Matthew, but Isaiah 13:10, Ezekiel 32:7, Joel 2:31, Joel 3:15, Amos 8:9, and Zechariah 14:6. And the sun is not dark for a moment or two but a period of time, likely days or even a few weeks. Do you see how important the sun is in prophecy?

God made the sun for us as a helper. In Genesis 1:14-16,

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.

With no sun or moon or stars, the darkness of the Tribulation people will endure will mirror the total sinfulness on earth. It will truly be a time of darkness, spiritually AND physically. The sun shines at His will and pleasure, and it is benign as a light giver as it was intended to be in Genesis or as hostile as a scorcher in judgment against us in Revelation. Again, at His will and pleasure. He is sovereign over all the universe, and the sun bends to his will.

The sun, our friend since the very first days that has given us light, seasons, and warmth, will behave in increasingly erratic ways until the very end of the end when “there shall be no more sun” at all. (Revelation 22:5). But this time, it will be because the glory of God will shine brightly, and there will be no more need of the sun.

And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

What a day that will be!

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Spring bounty and God’s prophecies

Posted on March 26, 2018 by elizabethprata

The spring has been gentle and the Lord is providing bounty from the earth. The summer garden crops are about to be planted in and they will be plenteous. The figs leaves are coming in. The muscadine vines are thriving. It reminds me in particular of two verses in the Bible. They are promises. That is what prophecies are, you know. Promises of positive things the Lord has in store for the people who love Him and promises of negative things to come for those who don’t love Him.

Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:4)

In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree. (Zechariah 3:10)

In the Bible, vines (usually grape) and fig trees were emblematic of agricultural abundance and that abundance bespoke wealth. Many fig trees meant prosperity. The promised land was described in Deuteronomy 8:8 as “a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates.” It was not described as a land flat and therefore ripe for land prospecting development. It was not described as a land full of silver and gold mines. It was not described a land of great cities producing a rich population with guilds and markets. The prosperity the land promised was riches from a bountiful earth. Remember that after the Fall, Adam was cursed with toil, and that the land would not yield unless he toiled with sweat and labor. What was it like before the Fall? I can’t wait to find out, and that is what these prophecies promise.

Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, (Genesis 3:17b-19b).

That curse will be reversed and the land will pop with generous abundance. Remember the two spies who came back, in Numbers 13:23 reporting that they saw huge grapes and figs and pomegranates?

Doesn’t sitting under our own fig tree and our vine and sound relaxing? Refreshing? Cool? Like walking with God in the garden in the cool of the day. And Jesus said, I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5).

And look what Jesus did! He did everything! He accomplished redemption for mankind, by breaking His own body and allowing it to be poured out! We are His branches, connected to the Great Gardener whose vine covers us, and which provides all sustenance.

When you’re out haying this summer, sweat running down your face, or you’re out mowing this summer, and thirsting because of the heat, or you’re gardening and battling the bugs who are killing your bean plants, remember the prophecies.

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. (Isaiah 32:18).

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. (Isaiah 5:1).

As for the saints in the Church, our dwelling place will be New Jerusalem, and it will be just as beautiful as earth’s bounty, glittering and pure.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:9-14)

How beautiful the relationship. We are the branches, closely grafted into the true vine. The true vine covers us, and we sit under it in peace and abundance. The abundance comes from the Vine Dresser who is the Father (John 15:1), who cares for the true vine in love and cares for his children, the branches.

Our God is a tremendous God!!!!!

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Living in interesting times

Posted on March 17, 2018 by elizabethprata

Praise the Lord, we live in interesting times!*

There is a proverb/curse of alleged Chinese origin, “May you live in interesting times.” The implication is that a life lived in interesting times is less desirable than one lived in peace and tranquility. To be sure, the danger and uncertainty and lack and want of these years are difficult to manage sometimes, but surely it is better to live in interesting times than uninteresting. Why? Jesus.

We could change that phrase to “May you live in prophetic times” and it would be better applicable for the believer. For those who are IN the Lord, believers in Jesus and saved by His grace, we know that though difficult, the times that are more “interesting” offer more growth in sanctification than times when everything is going along peacefully.

The tremendous opportunity we have to actually watch God at work in the world in such an interesting and visible way fuels my love for Him and my amazement at His sovereignty. Providentially, He sustains the world and universe in general. Providentially, He specifically ordains each and every breath, event, and movement for all His creatures, human and otherwise. How can we not be satisfied with that, when we know that whatever happens is for our good and His glory?

Yes, a life in a previous time might well have been more peaceful, but less astonishing. And the difficult times offer us the opportunity to grow in Jesus. He is the Potter. He sanctifies us and shapes us through trials and challenges. And my, what challenges these times offer. There is such violence in the world- hate, persecution against Christians and His church. Therefore the growth in Christlikeness would be even greater than when living in uninteresting times.

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds. “At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. (Psalm 75:1-3).

*Part of this essay appeared on The End Time in 2012.

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Stephen Hawking, coffins, & other thoughts

Posted on March 16, 2018March 16, 2018 by elizabethprata

Noted theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking died this week. He was brilliant, no doubt about that. His nickname in school was “Einstein”, and he lived up to name by contributing mightily to the areas of cosmology, particularly in Big Bang Theory and Black Holes.

He died of a rare form of Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) in that it progressed very slowly. He was 76.

Mr Hawking applied his mind in attempting to unlock the secrets of the universe, its forms and origins, functions and future. Though he made many discoveries, he never discovered the basic truth: God made it. In fact, the further Hawking went along, the more entrenched he became in denying the Designer and Sustainer of life. He made flatly rejecting statements about God and religion, such as these quoted in The UK Guardian in 2011-

The belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a “fairy story” for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said. In a dismissal that underlines his firm rejection of religious comforts, Britain’s most eminent scientist said there was nothing beyond the moment when the brain flickers for the final time.

“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark,” Source

‘There is no heaven’. This is a true statement- for Mr Hawking- if indeed he maintained his rejection of God to the end.

‘There is no afterlife’. This is an untrue statement for Mr Hawking. He is discovering now that he is indeed alive, and further, has been granted a fresh body, albeit one that will be withstanding the fires and punishments of hell for all eternity (if indeed he did not repent at an unknown time.)

Hawking was the smartest man, as smart as than Einstein…seeking the mysteries of the universe all the days of his life- it was only death that revealed those mysteries to him. Sadly, it is too late.

Hawking went the way of all flesh (with a nod to Samuel Butler). The way of all flesh is death, either to resurrected life in glory with Jesus, or to eternal death & punishment apart from Jesus. Answers In Genesis has a sensitive and thoughtful epitaph on Mr Hawking’s life, here.

It’s times like these, when a famous atheist dies, that one ponders hell all over again. Hell is a monstrous doctrine. Not monstrous as in evil, for God is holy and just and all those who are sent there deserve it. Even those who are forgiven, like me, deserve it. It’s only the imputed righteousness of Jesus that diverts us from our fleshly final fiery resting place.

I mean monstrous as in the definition of “extremely and dauntingly large; as in, “the monstrous tidal wave swamped the surrounding countryside”.

It’s a huge thing to ponder hell, because it is for all eternity. Who can know?

In a similar vein, I saw this photo on Facebook this week.

Some people around here think it’s funny, others amusing, others intrigued. I never knew how much the idol of college football was alive and active until I came to Georgia. The University of Georgia Bulldogs’ arena is the Temple and the ‘Dawgs’ are worshiped by thousands of adoring fans.

I don’t think it’s amusing. I think it’s blasphemous. Sure, people, bring your idol with you to eternity. What could go wrong?

When my husband and I were in Puyo, Ecuador, a town then on the edge of the Amazon Rainforest and very remote, we spent a week. There were few industries in this one-dirt-road town. It truly was a frontier town, with one main road, plank sidewalks, a lonely hotel, and a few stores. One industry was coffin making. The people in that part of the South American country loved their highly decorated coffins. They would be made of heavy wood, and at the corners, one or all four, there would be clear glass. Inside the headlight-like small alcove would be blinking lamps, candles, statues of Mary, jewelry, or just lights. Perhaps they thought the lights could aid Charon as he guided the casket across the river Styx to the abode of the dead.

Do you know what I wish? I wish that all coffins would have two pictures on them, one at either end. One, a picture of glory and the New Jerusalem. The other, a picture of the Lake of Fire. That would give funeral-goers something to contemplate. There is an afterlife, and all flesh is consigned to one of them.

The difference is your position on Jesus. If you believe He is your risen God, having trusted in Him as savior and repented of sins which He forgave, you go to heaven. If you have rejected Him and failed to repent of your sins, you go to the Lake of Fire to be punished for your sins. You have committed cosmic treason, which must be justly punished..

Hell is a big subject. So is heaven. We will all have an eternity to contemplate it. After death it is too late to change your location. Repent now, while it is still day

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all [people] everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31).

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Prophecy: The restrainer and salt

Posted on February 26, 2018 by elizabethprata

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-7).

I posted the full passage so that you can read the main verse under discussion today in context. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

The Second Letter to the Thessalonians was a very early letter. Paul wrote it in about AD 51, just a few months after he had written his first letter to the church at Thessalonika. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul had obviously spent some time teaching the new Christians in their new church about the end times. Now, there’s proof positive that eschatology is not only for the mature, nor is it a marginal doctrine to be learned after all the other, more important doctrines have been taught. Paul launched right in to teaching about the rapture and the Day of the LORD (The Tribulation) to the newest Christians. He reminded them in the 2nd letter about the important points, probably to refute false teachers who had come in to tell the Thessalonians that the Day of the LORD had come.

dr nathan busenitz

By the way, this is another proof the rapture will happen before the Tribulation. If the sequence of events was that the rapture happens at the end of the Day of the LORD, why were the Thessalonians so concerned and sought Paul’s advice? They should have been happy. And encouraged.

Why did Paul have to calm them down and remind them of what he had already taught? And further, the pre-tribulation rapture was supposed to be an encouragement. (1 Thessalonians 4:18) if the sequence was post-tribulation rapture then they should have been encouraged, not concerned, becuase it was almost here.

Today’s verse involves the One who restrains. In the passage above, Paul is describing someone who is powerful enough to restrain the man of Sin (antichrist) and to restrain sin itself. Who is powerful enough to do that? No human, certainly. The Holy Spirit.

Paul is saying here that when the Holy Spirit ceases His ministry of restraining sin, the Man of Perdition will be revealed. The Tribulation will come into full swing.

Barnes’ Notes describes the restraining ministry’s effect:

It was some power which operated as a check on the growing corruptions then existing, and which prevented their full development, but which was to be removed at no distant period, and whose removal would give an opportunity for these corruptions to develop themselves, and for the full revelation of the man of sin.

Did you ever stop to think about the restraining power the Spirit does while He is inside of us,the Church, while we are on earth? We hear people say that America is or was “A Christian Nation.” No, we never were. But it seemed like we were because so many people were Christians. Many of those were not, of course, but they modeled the precepts and behaved morally because so many other Christians were around. They might have had poor motivations to behave as a Christian, for business purposes, or for a social network, of for help with provision, but nevertheless, they adopted an external morality because that was the way to get along in society. Cultural pressure was brought to bear. The real Christians acted as salt.

We see this in 2 Corinthians 10:15. “We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged,” When the crisis at Corinth as resolved, Paul expanded the ministry to new areas.

Salt is preservative holding back decay. We are that salt. Each Christian with the Holy Spirit in him or her, acts as salt in the world. Salt prevents flesh from putrefying. When the Holy Spirit ceases His major ministry of restraining sin, and then He takes us out of the world in the rapture, each of us as a little salt crystal-Christian will disappear. There will be nothing left to stop the remaining flesh from corrupting. When we are removed the sin of the flesh will blossom, and quickly.

To be sure, the Holy Spirit is the power. We’re not. But us as little salt sprinkles around the world…when we AND the Spirit are removed out of the way, pow! Sin will be unrestrained in the world. Just think on it.

salt

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Bible Reading Plan: Isaiah’s seven time hotter sun*

Posted on February 9, 2018February 9, 2018 by elizabethprata

In the Tribulation, agriculture will wither under a scorching sun.

Dorothea Lange, Abandoned farm north of Dalhart, TX. 1938.

At the end of the end days, during the Tribulation where all men living on the earth will be judged in wrath, there will be three sets of successively worsening judgments (or four sets, if the Seven Thunders of Revelation 10:1-4 are judgments).

There will first be the 7 Seal Judgments of Revelation 6, they open the Tribulation. Then the wrath of God is demonstrated through 7 Trumpet Judgments of Revelation 8-9. These are terrible judgments, but by God’s grace, some repent through them. After that there are the 7 Bowl Judgments. Revelation 15 opens with the 7 Bowl Judgments.

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. (Revelation 15:1).

These are the most terrible of all. They are so bad that no one is even allowed in the heavenly throne room sanctuary until they are concluded.

And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, 8and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. (Revelation 16:7-8)

One of the Bowl judgments God pours on the people of the earth the plague of a hot sun. By this point in the Tribulation, no one is repenting. They know that God is sending His wrath onto the world, but they shake their fist at Him and refuse to repent. By this time, battle lines have been set in eternal stone. In Revelation 13 people either took the mark of the beast and thereby signaling their worship of satan, sealing their doom, (Revelation 14:9-10), or they refused the mark, thereby signaling their worship of the Lamb who lives forever, sealing most to their martyrdom.

The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. (Revelation 16:8-9).

God makes the sun hotter, so hot that men will be on fire if they are exposed to it. God is powerful and controls the sun!

Let us look to a happier time, the Millennial Kingdom. God’s Prophets had much to say about this period in earth’s history, also. The Kingdom will be set up on earth after the Tribulation is over, and the Old Testament saints and Tribulation saints have been resurrected. Those who refused the mark of the beast and lived will populate this kingdom, too. Because they are mortal, they’ll re-populate the earth. It is at this time the resurrected Old Testament saints whom Jesus promised land and an earthly kingdom with Him (the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Messiah) on the throne, will have all their promises fulfilled. This is Israel’s gift.

In Isaiah 30:23-25 we read that during this time of the Millennium Kingdom,

And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

John MacArthur says of this time:

In the Messianic Kingdom of that future day, agriculture, cattle raising, food production, and water resources will prosper. The prophet predicted the redemption of nature. (cf. Rom 8:19-21)

In Isaiah 30:26 we read of further blessings:

Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

The light of the sun will be seven times hotter?

MacArthur again:

The benefits from the natural bodies of light will be much greater. Increase of the intensity of their light will work to people’s advantage, not to their detriment as in Revelation 16:8-9.

In the Millennial Kingdom, a gentle, bright sun seven times
warmer will flourish the earth’s crops

When we read that God is sovereign overall creation, He is sovereign. He created the sun. As the Potter, He can make it do what He wills. During the Tribulation, it will be a mechanism for judgment, scorching men, who curse it. In the Millennium, the sun will be a mechanism for prosperity, and men will bless their Creator for giving them plenteous sunshine, healthful, glowing, and beautiful.

We groan, and cannot wait for redemption of our mortal bodies into glorified vessels worthy of seeing our Holy God. The creation groans too. When the creation is redeemed, it will rejoice also.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21).

This is how the creation will be set free. The sun will shine upon peaceable kingdom, over a flourishing agriculture, making men and crops thrive. Our Creator is majestic in power and sovereign over creation. He is to be worshiped, loved, praised. Our Jesus who was with God at the creation and who sustains all creation and without whom nothing was made that was made, is our hope. He is the hope of all creation. Our eternal Hope, who reigns forever.

—————————————-
Further Reading

The Glorious Return of Jesus Christ, part 1

Devotion: Three reassuring Signs

*This post first appeared on The End Time in June 2015

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Bible Reading Plan thoughts: Romans 11 and the full number

Posted on February 4, 2018 by elizabethprata

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25).

John MacArthur on that verse in the sermon Has God Cancelled His Promises to Israel? part 6

The fullness of the Gentiles, that is when the full number of Gentiles are redeemed, the fullness of the Gentiles will bring the salvation of Israel. Follow now; the fullness of Israel will bring the kingdom. So you have the fullness of the Gentiles and then they’re raptured out, God redeems Israel and when the fullness of Israel is redeemed, the kingdom comes. And so with great joy does Paul predict this tremendous event that will bring about what it says in verse 26, “And so all Israel shall be saved,” after the fullness of the Gentiles have entered in.

At a certain point in earth’s history to come, it is promised to us that Jesus will lift His church composed of Christians dead and alive, into heaven to be with Him. Then he will hurl His stored-up wrath upon earth to punish the unbelieving nation Israel, and the sinful Gentile world. Some people say there will be no rapture at all. Others say that it will happen at the end of or in the middle of the time of wrath (AKA the Tribulation, or Time of Jacob’s Trouble). Since the rapture is in the Bible, and since it is a single even that is promised to occur, it can’t happen both before the Tribulation and at the end. Therefore one of those positions is right and one of them is wrong.

Scripture supports this stance that the rapture will happen before Jesus begins the last days punishments. Paul taught this in his treatment of the subject in 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians 15:42-57, it’s in Revelation, as well as being taught implicitly throughout other books of the Bible.

The event is supposed to be a hope to believers, and an encouragement, said Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:18. When you look around the dark world with its sin and evil, take hope in the knowledge that Jesus has a plan. His plan includes filling a quota for His Church (Romans 11:25). When that occurs, He will remove His Bride from the wrath, because we are not appointed to it. (Revelation 3:10). We will appear before His Bema seat to receive rewards for our service to Him while we were on earth, (2 Corinthians 5:10), and then enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 19:7–10). Meanwhile on earth, the Tribulation will have begun.

It is a joy to understand that God has not cancelled His promises to Israel and will return His attention ot his chosen nation in due time. He will fulfill His promises, sadly, the wrath, then joyfully, the bliss.

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The pride of cities

Posted on February 3, 2018February 3, 2018 by elizabethprata

In our Bible Reading Plan we’d read Isaiah 23. In it, was Isaiah’s prophecy against Tyre. Tyre was a major city on the coast, to which many ships from afar brought their goods to trade and sell. Tyre was held in high esteem by all around. (Isaiah 23:8). It had prestige and renown.

Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away? 8Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? 9The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory,c to dishonor all the honored of the earth. (Isaiah 23:7-9)

When a city becomes so vaunted, the leaders of the city become proud. Hence the reason for Isaiah’s oracle against Tyre. (Isaiah 23:9). They attributed their success and fame to themselves, and not to God.

This situation reminded me of the scene in Daniel 4. King Nebuchadnezzar displayed the same problem.

and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30).

He attributed the city of Babylon’s success and fame to himself, and not to God. For his selfish boastfulness and pride, God determined to remove the kingdom from Nebuchadnezzar for 7 years, wherein he would live among beasts as a mad person and eat the grass of the field. When 7 years was over, God restored reason to the king and also the kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar praised God for all His glory.

When we see the glittering towers of the city, its cathedrals, towers, strongholds, and castles, we tend to become proud of our accomplishment in building them. We admire the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Sears Tower, the Windsor Castle, the Taj Mahal… We enlarge our sea ports and construct airports and enjoy the trade and commerce merchants willingly bring to the city.

We applaud man’s ingenuity in building these majestic buildings, we love the fame and renown these landmarks bring to the city and we become boastful inhabitants. But we forget that we have no strength of our own, and no intellect, or ability unless God grants it.

Tyre was razed in 332 BC when Alexander the Great conquered it. And Babylon, we know was felled in one night as described in Jeremiah 51:8 and Daniel 5:30.

If a prophet were to prophesy today, what oracle might be spoken about New York City? Los Angeles? Paris? London? Ezekiel 38:20 prophesies a future day when all walls will crumble to the ground. This page shows how many times God said He will destroy a city for its pride and rebellion. We know He destroyed four Cities of the Plain in one night, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim.

The end result of pride, is destruction. This is reiterated in the New Testament, in today’s reading of Matthew 11. There is a section between verses 20-24 called “Woe to Unrepentant Cities” such as Chorazin, Bethsaida, Tyre, Sidon, and Capernaum.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18). The verse applies to cities as well. The Isaiah verse we’d read yesterday is warning about this.

prophecy, Uncategorized

God’s grief over sin

Posted on February 1, 2018 by elizabethprata

While reading Psalm 14 in yesterday’s Bible Reading Plan, I was reminded of another set of verses. First, here is Psalm 14-

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.

2The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

3They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

4Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the LORD?
(Psalm 14: 1-4).

We’re familiar with Paul’s reference to Psalm 14:3, in Romans 3:10. We are also familiar with the famous verse in Psalm 14, ‘the fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” ‘

But the tone of the Psalmist crying out to God because of peoples’ ungodliness, reminded me of the tragic verses in Genesis 6:5-6,

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

It’s good to be reminded that as much as we grieve over sin, like the Psalmist, God grieves so much more. When your little one throws a tantrum, or steals his brother’s toy, or hits a kid at school, you’re angry and grieved because we know that behavior is not the best for your child. I wonder what God sees when He looks down upon His children on the earth. According to the Genesis verse, He grieves. We also know He is angry. (Romans 1:18).

Oh, how sweet it will be when all are reconciled in holiness to our Holy God, no more blot or stain to arouse His grief and anger. What a day that will be.