Scripture: Isaiah 60 v 1 - 5: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
5 Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee."
Nearly eighty years ago when the United Nations proclaimed that the Jews could return to their own land it fulfilled a prophecy of Jeremiah that after many years of exile they would return and reclaim the land through kibbutz farms. Eretz Israel kibbutzanim were his words.
It was not to occupy the land temporarily but it was given as a homeland to the Jews who had come out of the Holocaust and the death camps like skeletons, broken by the heartbreak of 6 million lost to the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Ramstein and others.
The glory of the Lord is risen upon you, says Isaiah. The Arab nations round about Israel declared war as soon as the Jews returned to the land. They want to annihilate Israel forever. They want to crush her under their religious zeal but they are fighting against the promises of Almighty God who loves Israel. They will never defeat Him or the glory of His presence.
The Jews will know about the gross darkness around them but will outshine it because of God's blessing upon them. Israel is always in the news, usually negatively because they dare to retaliate against terrorist attacks. No matter how brutal 7 Oct 23 was, and still is because of the hostages, they are always the bad dog in the fight.
They gave Gaza to the Palestinians to settle. They offered a two state solution. The Palestinians refused it and will always refuse it. They want the whole land of Israel and to exterminate all Jews. But there is a light at the end of the tunnels of Hamas. Firstly they are being exposed and destroyed. The weapons hoarded there for the final destruction of Israel are being destroyed. Hamas does not want peace. It wants a continuous state of war.
Into this darkness, these dark days, the light of Jesus is shining. His love for Israel is everlasting. They are the chosen nation. They are the Apple of God's Eye. Even in times of disobedience, the Lord watches over them. As the times of the Gentiles gently closes, so His attention turns on Israel.
He will never reject her. He has made everlasting covenants with her and He never goes back on His Word. Those preachers saying Israel is discarded in favour of the Church need to wake up to the truth. The light is shining on Israel. After the Rapture the next great rescue is Israel.
More and more Jews are flocking to their homeland to be ready for their rescue by Messiah Jesus when He returns at the time of Armageddon. Everything is being made ready for the great and terrible day of the Lord.
The timeline will be first the 7 year peace treaty between Israel and all Arab nations, not just with Gaza. This starts the first half of the great tribulation called The Beginning of Sorrows. At this time will come the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh. There will be a world wide revival.
Matthew 24 v 7 - 9: "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake."
At the end of the first half in which many millions get saved, that's when I believe the Rapture will take place. There will be a great revival when the Peace Treaty is signed. The Antichrist is fully revealed to the Jews after the third Temple is built. By him.
Then comes the terrible second half called the Wrath of the Lamb.
Revelation 6 v 12 - 16: "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:"
Isaiah says of this time that the Earth will reel to and fro like a drunkard. Isaiah 24 v 18 - 20: "And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again."
Jesus says in Matthew 24 v 15 - 21: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."
The Abomination of Desolation is the Antichrist who will go into the Holy of Holies in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and declare himself God.
At this moment the eyes of the Jews will be opened and as said by Zechariah 12 v 9 - 10: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."
Jesus is prophesying through Isaiah: They will look upon Me whom they have pierced.
At that moment when the Antichrist proclaims himself God the Jews will know that Jesus Christ whom they pierced or crucified is their Messiah. It will break their hearts and bring them into His arms.
Revelation 1 v 7 - 8: "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
Dearly Beloved of the Lord, these times are in the near future and in our lifetime. The Antichrist is rising rapidly in all nations. His agenda is well advanced. Sky high cost of living, riots, anarchy, anti-Semitism, persecution of Christians and Jews, wars, apostasy, corruption, greed, divorce, murder, sexual abuse, sexual deviation, scams, drug addiction, alcoholism....all things getting more and more out of control.
One World Government, One World Religion, One World currency. The Antichrist The Beast and The False Prophet. These are looming large unless we have our heads in the sand and ignore it all. There is only one safety net and His name is Jesus. He was sent by God to save mankind from Hell. Our choice if we accept or reject it. Our will, our free will, must not be manipulated.
The Church is filled with happy go lucky people in general. They have stopped believing in the Rapture, the End Times, and don't read the Bible much. Church services are a feel good event and sin is rarely mentioned. The one world religion is ready to merge you into its compromising bosom.
Most people do not want to hear the words I write or say. My words are far from their reality, their ambition and their lifestyle. Yet the Lord urges me on to keep telling them maybe someone will heed it. It feels weird to me because the bridge is down and the train is rushing towards a deep chasm. David Wilkerson wrote about it in The Vision. The horrors of the Great Tribulation.
The fires of Los Angeles, California, the eruptions on Hawaii, Iceland, Mr Etna, the floods in many places, droughts, famines, plagues, fear, loss, shock, war. Mud slides, tornadoes, typhoons, hurricanes, superstorms and earthquakes.
The only good news is that Jesus is the Ark we need to run into to be saved. His light has shined on the Gentiles for 1900 years. Now it's the turn of the true Olive Tree. The olive tree He rebuked in Mark 11 was the evil root that twisted Eve and Adam out of shape and resulted in Sodom and Gomorrah and the Flood. Now they are back in Eretz Israel and His light is coming upon them.
Prayer: Heavenly Father You did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. Thank You that in this terrifying time we are secure in Jesus, the Light of the world. None of these calamities come upon us unaware. We reach out our hand of love to those who are in the quicksand of panic and hope they have enough faith to take hold and reach safety. In Jesus' name. Amen.