Good News! Good News! Good News! (Part 3)

tldr;  Let me tell you the story of God's people at the end of this age, as I understand it. (Continued)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God." Isaiah 40:3  

OK, I'm really struggling getting this part out, so I'm just going to write and see where it goes.  It's not for lack of Scriptural support or lack of understanding.  It's actually the opposite.  There is SO MUCH Scripture about this part of the story; where do you begin?  

The Bible tells us as much as we need to know, but I'm sure does not tell us everything.  (Who knew that Revelation 18:23 pharmakeia would be a vaccine?)  This little blog post is like a drop in the bucket compared to what we are told.  And selecting photos to go along with the story slows it down even more.  

Furthermore, no one will believe it anyways.  

Many christians are exactly like I was circa 2008, before I started studying the prophets.  I remember way back in my 20's my pastor at the time asked if I was reading the Bible.  Of course I confessed, saying no, not very much.  Ironically, had I actually been studying the Bible I would've left that church because of what was being taught, and what wasn't.

But those who do study, most are still of the mindset of the popular teachers.  They simply refuse to believe the prophets of old are talking about present day christians.

So, if you're me, what do you do with all this?

At great expense to myself I wrote a few books that go into great detail about why I believe what I believe; how I came to certain interpretations.  (In hindsight, I should have not taken a year off of work to write them, instead just writing in the evenings.  Live and learn!)  

Are the books perfect?  Not at all; there are some things I understand differently now almost 10 years later.  But there is still some very good info there.  Does it matter?  No, no one reads them anyways! :D  I can echo this sentiment:  Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain; Yet surely my just reward is with the LORD, And my work with my God.’ ” Isaiah 49:4

If you really want a starting point, read Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright, written by J.H. Allen in the early 1900's. You can find it free online.  Until we understand who's who in the Bible, and the journey they took, we will be hard-pressed to understand the message to our generation.

Nevertheless...  I'm going to attempt to lay out the patterns I see in the prophets for our day.  As always, take it or leave it.  God puts the information out there for us to learn, but only few really try.  

Here is a little tip:  if you come across a teaching that has been absolutely attacked and demonized by the masses, you might be on the right track.  Satan delivers "smooth" and easy doctrine to tickle the ears of the masses who want to believe easy things; which makes the flesh comfortable.  Meanwhile, if a teaching is hard but true, Satan will attack it, lest some believe and prepare.

Take, for example, the pre-Tribulation rapture.  It's no coincidence this doctrine is taught by the majority of popular teachers and believed by the majority of christians.  Another example, just mention that "Israel" and "Jerusalem" have dual meanings, and in certain contexts actually refer to christians at the end of the age.  You will be called crazy and heretical and vehemently opposed by the same people who have no idea what the difference is between Judah and Israel in the Bible, let alone the paths they took and where they ended up over the course of history.  Hint: even their genes are different and there are very specific reasons why they have different facial features.

I guess they think the two sticks of Ezekiel are Jews and....other Jews!?!  “say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ Ezekiel 37:19

If you really read the prophets, you may notice something.  This is the ultimate pattern of the end of the age.  We see this pattern in nearly every chapter, Isaiah to Malachi:  God is returning in judgment but he will save His people, correct their false mindsets, bless them mightily, and all the world will see them as a city set on a hill before His final judgments are poured out upon the unrepentant. 

But you have to get over the notion that the Tribulation is 7 years of continual misery.  Yes, it will be extremely hard at times, but it will not be continual misery. (Isaiah 9:1)  Nor is it exactly 7 years in length; it's actually longer than that.  The 7 years begin at the battle of Gog/Magog when God supernaturally rescues the portion of His remnant that STAY AND WAIT ON GOD IN FAITH and are not like that other, larger, portion that disgracefully choose to go with the enemy when he offers food and land. O LORD, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. “Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the LORD, The fountain of living waters.” Jeremiah 17:13

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  We have a ways to go before we get to that battle, after which they will burn the weapons...for seven years. Ezekiel 39:9

Speaking of which, are we not already in the Tribulation now!  Babylon has deceived all nations with the administering of drugs, thus fulfilling that part of Revelation 18:23.  Yes, we are technically already in the Tribulation...but don't get too hung up on it, it's just semantics.  God's end-time prophecies began their fulfillment a long time ago.

If you have been following along with this story in parts 1 and 2:

One night you will go to bed like you always do, expecting to wake up the next morning to a world much like today.  But instead you will wake up to a world filled with war and natural disasters, a world set on fire.  And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. Jeremiah 25:33  Death and mourning and famine will ensue.

Fast forward, let's say, three months.  I don't know exactly how long.  But for the sake of argument, let's say three months.

God considers you one of His people.  You're an American.  You've just been through the most horrific three months of your life.  And now you are in...some desert!?.  The Middle East.  Jordan, specifically.  

“Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it. “And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing without cause that I have done in it,” says the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 14:22-23

Had you remained in America, you would have perished.  God knew this, and made a way of escape for you.  And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. Revelation 18:4

The information I'm about to share may very well save your life and the lives of your loved ones.

The choices you make at that point mean the difference between life and death.  Will you stand in faith, or will you cower in fear?  All the world will be watching in which camp you decide to pitch your tent.

Here is what the prophets, Isaiah to Malachi, describe regarding the people of God.

He brings them out into the wilderness where He will deal with their false mindsets.  I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. “And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. Ezekiel 20:34-35

It will not be pretty.  There will be bickering and infighting among the factions.  There will be thirst and hunger.  Some faith-challenged geniuses will get the brilliant idea to journey to Egypt looking for help.  Others will decide it's a great idea if they open their big mouths and discourage people from trusting in the God of their salvation.  "...and you shall know that I have done nothing without cause that I have done in it..."  

It's not going to be pretty.  But here's the real question:  what will YOU do when you are hard-pressed and hungry?

Just when you think things can't get any worse, they will.  The king that just bombed America to oblivion will hatch a plan, thinking he can take over Palestine and surrounding lands (and all the energy buried beneath the soil).  A hook will be in his jaw as he and many smaller nations with him come down to invade all of Palestine.  “You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.” Ezekiel 38:9

God's remnant, the ones He just saved out of a nuclear holocaust, will be literally surrounded by enemy forces.  What is God after in all of this?  He's after our mindsets, church!  And after He corrects our mindsets, He's after our testimony!  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;  My cup runs over. Psalm 23:4

At this point it is well within the enemy's power to destroy God's remnant.  However, God has other plans.  The LORD said: “Surely it will be well with your remnant; Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction. Jeremiah 15:11

In other passages we see what that enemy will offer God's remnant.  He will say come with me and I will give you food and a land like you knew.  We know from Scripture that two thirds of the remnant will go with him.  They essentially turn their backs on God in that moment and defect.  They did not have enough faith to stay and wait on God.

But they did not know the thoughts and intents of God's heart to destroy the enemy before them.  After they leave with him, God sends a destroyer to destroy all his armies.  This is referred to as the battle of Gog/Magog.  Those who went with him are also destroyed with his armies.  They chose the enemy over their God, and reaped the consequence of their lack of faith.

But those who stayed and waited in faith are rewarded with great blessing.  The very wilderness before them comes to life, food and water and vegetation in abundance.

All the world just witnessed this.  What will they think?  What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, And the poor of His people shall take refuge in it. Isaiah 14:32

At this point in the story, we are now at the beginning of the last 7 years before the return of Christ.  Get ready for the following words to be fulfilled at this time:

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.

Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 2:2-3

How will the last 7 years unfold for the world?  What part will you play?  Will you leave your name as a curse?  One who betrayed his God to fill a hungry belly?  Or will you, come hell or high water, stay and wait in faith on the God of your salvation?

The final chapter of the greatest story of all time is unfolding right now.  

The title of this story is "Jehovah Is Salvation."

In the Hebrew:

In the Greek:

The story of mankind is this:  For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

The parable of humanity is this:  If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

How should this chapter end?

  

Should all true believers just disappear; caught up into heaven in the blink of an eye before God pours out His judgments in the earth? 

Or...

Should God gather all true believers into one place, protect and nourish them, even as the world receives its just due for sin, as a final testimony to a world that has rejected God's mercy?

The pattern of believers in this life is this:  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;  My cup runs over.

The pattern of the Tribulation is this: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  ‘For I,’ says the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’ ” Zechariah 2:5

What is the common pattern we see all throughout the Bible?

1. Planting of people in the land, garden, etc., with God's blessings

2. Warnings to obey God, and to not sin

3. Time of mercy and grace

4. Falling away from God and His laws

5. God sends prophets to warn repeatedly

6. When sin persists, God removes blessings and sends judgments instead

7. Wickedness is destroyed, people turn back to God and the pattern is repeated

For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Malachi 3:6  It is because God does not change that this pattern remains in place.  It is because God does not change that God allows His people to turn back to Him rather than just destroying us all outright.

Thus says the LORD: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it,'So will I do for My servants' sake, That I may not destroy them all. Isaiah 65:8

The Bible has a lot to say about the end of the present age just before Yahushua (Jesus) returns to the earth.  And while many believers focus on the anti-Christ, the false prophet, the mark of the beast and destruction of wickedness (ie. the book of Revelation) the real focus is the story of God's people.

The book of Revelation is only part of the story, mainly describing the judgments of the last three and one half years before the return of Christ.  However, the prophets have much to say about our day and the lead up to those very judgments.

Is your faith strong enough to endure what's coming to the earth?  What will you do in the appointed day, And in the day of the feast of the LORD? Hosea 9:5