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LOOKING TO THE END TIME
Now I want you to notice how the Spirit of God took
that natural setting back then and began to look to the future.
First, as we look to the future, we need to put our mind's in
the same frame of thinking, and realize how those Jews felt at
that time. (verses 6-7) "For thus saith the Lord of hosts;
Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens,
and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake
all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will
fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." This
prophecy was not pointing to the then present time that the little
house was built. It was pointing to a future time. It began to
have its first application in the first advent of Christ; but
verse 7 goes beyond that to how God shakes things bringing us
to the end time. "And I will shake all nations, and the
desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with
glory, saith the Lord of hosts." We see how political
leaders today are traveling all over the earth, running here and
there, straining, doing everything to pull out something, some
magical philosophy to help stabilize touchy situations and bring
about world peace. Everything they do is futile: so very fruitless.
As I said last Sunday, When we hear our leaders stressing certain
things, trying to put importance on working with the United Nations,
if you just look back through the months this horrible situation
in Yugoslavia has been on the News, can you honestly say the United
Nations has done anything worth two cents? What have they done
about that? Or if you please, What can they do? They have not
done one thing that has given a thread of hope to those people.
They have literally spent millions of dollars taking aid to one
element of people, while at the same time the other people that
are the opposite, are blowing up, and tearing those towns all
to pieces. When that Communistic breakup came, those towns and
cities were beautiful places. Look at them now. Burned out, ripped
and torn to pieces. Who is going to build them back? Probably
millions of dollars of aid will come right out of your national
treasury, if and whenever the time comes the world decides to
do something right. My point in saying that is, Whatever the world,
political wise, has in mind, such as a United Nations or a New
World Order, it will all play out as we get closer to the end
of this Gentile era; because we can read the Bible and see a thing
coming up in Revelation 13, that is not a New World Order. It
is an old world order. It is an old system coming up in another
century of time, just to have a short say so again. That is why
it is referred to in the 17th chapter of Revelation, and the beast
that was, and is not, and yet is. It will come out of the bottomless
pit and go into perdition. That ought to tell people not to look
for a New World Order. It was a beast before, ruling the lives
of people without any concern for their well being. Therefore
when it comes back into power again, it will not be gentle like
a lamb. I want to read you something from the 17th chapter of
Revelation: that will let you see what so many politicians are
referring to as a new world order. God was showing the apostle
John this very thing so many have their high hopes anchored in,
so notice what it says. (Revelation 17:8) "The beast that
thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of
the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell
on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the
book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold
the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." There, is
your new world order. It is the same old beast that ruled Europe
in the Dark Ages: the beast that received a deadly wound by the
hands of the Reformers, but was healed; and is now ready to continue
on a little short space of time. That is what all of this political
maneuvering will eventually produce; and the pope of Rome will
sit at the head of it all: just like he did throughout the Dark
Ages. Therefore here in the endtime, that is why the shaking of
all things must first be identified. When we look back to about
1989 when this began to take place, who would have thought, back
in the middle of the 80's, that the Communistic empire could crumble
so fast, knowing that in the years since WW2 Russia had built
every kind of weapon she could possible build? She did her very
best trying to beat us to the moon. She stole our secrets, bought
from spies and all such, getting what she needed to produce bombs
and other instruments of warfare. She was determined she would
bury the western world. Then what happened, as we got closer to
time for God to start the shaking of all things? and for the removing
of things that are shaken? All of the man made systems must be
shaken and allowed to tumble, that the things that cannot be shaken
may remain, and go on to complete fulfillment. Knowing what we
know we can say, When it was time for that Russian, Communistic
regime to fall, it did not take a war to do it. No. God somehow
or other came down on the scene and put in the heart of a few
politicians a certain outlook and way to go about it. Those men
did not know they were fulfilling the word of God. What does it
say in Revelation 17 concerning the ten horns? They have received
no kingdom as yet. That is talking about the ten nations of western
Europe, meaning of course that none of them have received a world
empire: even though they fought for many years trying to gain
one. However the Bible says they received power as kings one hour
with the beast, meaning of course that allotted period of time.
For God will put in their hearts to fulfill His word. No matter
how they want to fuss about one currency and all this and that
which is destined to take place, as we get closer to the time
for that whole system to work and function just the way God's
word says it will: He just moves on the hearts of leaders, and
puts in them certain ideas. When that happens everything will
click and go together. Why? Because on the other hand He uses
a shaking process. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken;
and through that shaking process God will work His purpose. In
other words, When the great plans of mortal mankind are shaken
to pieces and they grab hold of whatever they can, trying to hold
on, they have to use whatever is left; and that moves their thinking
right into the way God has ordained it to be. Just look at the
horrible picture over in Bosnia right now: I have to say, That
has given us a good look as to what little good the United Nations
is in this hour. It ought to present a picture to a lot of Christians
that will let them know, Do not look for a New World Order. Keep
your eyes on Rome and Western Europe. Right there, is the power
that is going to start speaking one day soon. It will not be a
new world order: it will be an old world order restored. The key
to what is going on in world affairs is found in verse that we
just read: "And I will shake all nations, and the desire
of all nations shall come." When God gets through shaking
all nations in the fulfillment of this scripture man's desires
and plans will be changed. When the shaking has accomplished its
purpose, the Jews will not only be back in all the land they are
scripturally entitled to: they will also be in full possession
of their temple mount area. That will bring time into the proper
setting for the 70th week of Daniel to start; and for the temple
to be built; and when construction begins on it, Isaiah 60, will
fall right into place. Naturally we know it will take some kind
of shaking among the Arab world very soon in order for Isaiah
60 to be fulfilled: because right now, there is no way any world
leader involved in world affairs would dare say to any Moslem
nation, How many of you are willing to contribute money to the
Jewish nation for the rebuilding of their sacred temple? How many
of those Arab states at this present time would be willing to
contribute one thin dime? Not one! Not one right now. Why? They
want to get rid of Israel instead of helping her build her temple.
They want to get her out of that land. There are some Jewish political
leaders in office right now that are willing to strike a compromise
with the Arabs for the sake of peace; but we all know what the
eventual outcome of any compromise will be: For God's holy Bible
lets us know the Jews will soon have to take more land: not give
up land they already have. Somehow they are going to come into
possession of their former boundaries that include their land
on the Jordan side of the Jordan River. Look at your old Bible
maps: you can see for yourselves what land they are soon going
to come into possession of. You can say this, Not even leaders
of our own nation (which is known as a Christian nation) realize
the hour they are living in. Listen saints: There are many voices
telling the Jews to give up their idea of reaching out farther
and come to some kind of compromise for the sake of peace but
I say, God has this whole thing planned precisely. When the time
comes, just watch the necessary shaking take place. I cannot help
but believe one of these days there is going to be a political,
domestic, and military upheaval in the Middle East, and when you
see it, things are going to start falling to pieces; and at the
same time other things will start coming together: just the way
prophecy has pictured it. It will not take God 15 or 20 years
over a long period of time for Him to bring it about. In fact
it is all going to come about in such a dramatic, miraculous way,
people are going to be startled, really shaken by it. You may
say, I cannot understand. It all looks impossible. Well, God is
the worker of impossible things. When He brought Israel out of
Egypt, He showed what He was capable of doing; and He has promised
that in the last days He will do it again. God is just tolerating
a lot of nonsense out of these Gentile political leaders while
He is working, slowly, putting other things in place. He still
has His eye on us. I have to say, He is wanting us to get the
attention of His hand of guidance, and get ourselves lined out
right. Then, as the people of the Gentile church begin to go forward
in the right direction, and they are walking in unity, with a
vision and understanding of why they are doing what they are doing,
then watch what God begins to do in the Middle East. When you
then see the hand of God working in the Middle East, you will
know your day of redemption, and your departure from this life
is getting close at hand. That will put a spark of enthusiasm
and excitement in the heart of people. There will be a joy in
your soul because you know beyond the shadow of a doubt, My Savior
is coming very soon. There is not a devil in hell that can throw
enough wrenches in the works to prevent it. The end result of
the temple being rebuilt is that when the Millennium is set in
motion, all nations will come to Zion once each year, to Jerusalem
to worship the Lord of hosts. When I said awhile ago that something
has to break in the Middle East and develop a certain way in order
to set Isaiah 60 in motion, these last two verses will help you
understand why. As God looked down on that little nucleus of people
500 years before the first advent of Christ, He knew many of them
standing there were thinking, I wish this house were larger. I
wish it looked as beautiful as the one I saw when I was a little
boy, or girl, growing up. God wanted those old timers to know,
that even though they knew why the house was so small, He wanted
them to know everything was all right. He reassured them. He said
this, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith
the Lord of hosts." That is God's way of saying, if I
had wanted this house to have been larger, it would have been,
you would have had the money to pay for the more expensive rebuilding.
In other words He said, I accept its purpose. God knew that Jesus
the Christ, their Messiah who was literally the ark of the covenant
in human flesh, would never sit in that house. He was ordained
to sit in the one that was prophesied about in these two verses.
(8) "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the
Lord of hosts. (9) The glory of this latter house shall be greater
than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place
will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts."
WHAT GOD WILL DO ON BEHALF OF THE GENTILE CHURCH
Let me now speak to us who are sitting here this
morning. As I look at this assembly, a Gentile Church Assembly,
and think of that last dream I had, I do not know to the fullest
extent what all it involves yet; but I do know that from whatever
time we are living in right now until the time it is fulfilled
in its fullness, God, by His Spirit is going to move through this
Gentile church world to bring a people into unity and put them
together in the light of this truth we hold to be so precious.
They are not going to be Methodists, they are not going to be
Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Episcopalians, Unitarians
or anything else manmade when He gets through with them: they
will just be Christians. However, they could have been in any
of those organizations at one time. It is just that, as God puts
His true Church together, they are going to become Christians
like they see in the Bible, in the book of Acts. As I say that,
we have to realize this Gentile church is going to come back together
by the workings of the Spirit of God. It looks like God has tolerated
nonsense, confusion, and people have been allowed to run rampant
doing anything they desire to do and get by with it; but God is
not going to tolerate this nonsense very much longer. We are entering
an interval of time now, when God is going to start correcting,
eliminating and purifying until He has the kind of Church we read
about in the book of Acts. We are going to get a brighter picture
of ourselves, of each other, and of how we are supposed to walk
and live for Him. As we do, it has to be understood that it is
through an anointing of God. It will not be through some intellectual
feat we can accomplish ourselves. If in former times God told
that people, It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit
saith the Lord, we certainly have no reason to believe a thing
like we are talking about will be accomplished any other way in
this hour, except by an anointing of the Spirit of God. How much
Hebrew and Greek we know will have nothing at all to do with this
last day work of God in our lives. Only God Himself can give us
a detailed picture of the things that are absolutely essential
in order for us to become one in the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ in every spiritual fiber of our total makeup.
We will begin to see clearly, how we are to function and live
in that respect. As we do, I am certain it will be as I saw it
in the second phase of my dream: as people came together, coming
with that little bottle of anointing oil, and finally, when the
great assembly was all gathered and I saw Bro. Branham standing
before them, he began to speak on things in relationship to the
coming of the Bridegroom. As he did, I could hear these words
being spoken throughout that great gathering, Isn't this wonderful?
Oh this is glorious! The one thing I heard them saying above all
else was, This is so simple. Whatever the thunders are going to
bring out here in front of us, there is no reason for us to think
it will be so far-fetched it will be like reaching for the moon.
I have every reason to believe, that when the thunders are sounded
to the people who are to make up the Bride of Christ, what they
speak will be things that will have such a sweetness, and give
such a natural capability of understanding that it will make everything
look so simple for us. It will not be like it has been in prior
times, like when we were in school trying to understand mathematics,
or scientific formulas and all such as that. What those thunders
speak to the bride of Christ are going to be things that will
drop down in the heart's of the people and will let them see something
so beautiful, that no matter what our educative capabilities are,
each one is going to say, This is glorious! This is wonderful!
I never dreamed it would be so simple. Saints: I certainly do
not want to miss it. Do you? I said to the people in Norway, "If
you were to say to the Denominational church world today, I had
a dream last night of William Branham. He came to me and said
certain things: I know what their natural reaction would be: They
would say, I don't believe in that kind of stuff. That is spiritualism,
they would say." Well I admit there are many people involved
in spiritualism in this hour of time; but the true people of God
know the difference between that and what we are talking about.
God has often used the image of a deceased person in a vision
He would give someone; but that is not in the same category as
the cases where people actually feel that they are communicating
with the dead. I will remind you of something you have read in
the 17th chapter of Matthew: Let us ask those skeptics this question,
How come, that Jesus one day stood before a multitude of Jews
after a great miracle had been done: when four thousand men plus
women and children had been fed with seven little loaves of bread
and a few little fish and said to them, "The Son of man
shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then
He shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say
unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of
death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom?"
Was His statement correct? Did some of those standing there that
day see such a thing? I assure you they did: even though that
was more than 1900 years ago and the literal fulfillment of that
event is yet to be. Let me read you a few verses from that 17th
chapter of Matthew. "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter,
James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high
mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and His face
did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light.
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking
with Him.(9) And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus
charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until
the Son of man be risen again from the dead." It was
a vision they saw; but God used it to fulfill the statement Jesus
made; and also to speak to Jesus concerning His death which would
be accomplished at Jerusalem. Did Peter, James and John actually
see the Moses and Elijah of old standing there talking to Jesus?
God gave them a vision in which they saw exactly that; and Luke
even told what they were talking about: His death at Jerusalem.
Would any true believer dare say that even though God used the
image's of those two old prophets to represent something in that
instance, He would never do such a thing again? Do not try to
limit God like that: He will not cooperate with your projections.
He will use any means to convey to His true people what He wants
them to receive: just as long as it does not contradict what He
has spoken previously in His written word. Those three disciples
saw two prophets, Moses and Elijah. Moses had been dead a long
time. Elijah had been raptured; but they saw both these figures
standing there talking to Jesus. The point is this, and I want
all of you to listen carefully: That was not those prophets
in literal bodily form. You say, Well Bro. Jackson, I always
thought it was. Read your Bible. Go back to the 17th chapter of
Matthew and read the whole thing. It plainly tells you in verse
9,that it was a vision. "See that you tell the VISION
to no man." Does that not tell you something? Sure it
does. The point is this, The Spirit of God is everywhere. He can
manifest any image He chooses to at any time that suits His purpose.
Since God is a Spirit that does not have a physical form of His
own to dwell in, but is capable of manifesting whatever form He
may choose to contact mortal mankind through, we need to be very
careful about careless remarks concerning things we are not familiar
with. He certainly does not want us to grab hold of everything
that is presented to us out here in the world; because the devil
uses all sorts of things to deceive those who can be deceived.
However when God presents something to us through a vindicated
source, what we need to do is consider the content and just wait
upon the Lord for His purpose to come to light. He never expects
His true people to do anything radical; and certainly nothing
that would go contrary to His word; but we do need to be sensitive
to the leading of His Spirit and leave room for Him to do for
us things that may be different than what He has done on our behalf
in the past. For the past almost 2000 years, God has been living
in the person of His only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the glorified immortal one, positioned in heaven on the
throne of His Father. Since Jesus was taken up 2000 years ago,
He has never been back on earth in person since then. Yet that
omnipresent Spirit of God can move upon a thousand people at the
same time, all over this planet; and each one see Jesus standing
right in front of them, even talking to them. That is because
it is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God that does this sort of
thing. When He does, it is because He wants you to see that image
of Jesus for a specific reason. It is not a necessary element
of our salvation experience. We only need to see Him in the pages
of God's written word in order to lay hold on the benefits of
Calvary. Therefore when you hear someone say, Jesus stood by my
bedside and said to me so and so, just keep in mind the fact that
the actual embodied, glorified, immortal Jesus the Christ, who
is now High Priest, is not actually there. It is only the image
being conveyed by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is why we
have to realize God uses angelic beings to characterize this sort
of thing. When the three disciples with Jesus on the Mount of
Transfiguration saw Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus, they did
not see the literal Moses and Elijah of old. They saw the image
of who they were. The image of who they were is to stand out vividly,
for God is going to use that same anointing He used to speak to
the Old Testament Jewish people, to speak to the Jewish people
again in the first half of the seventieth week of Daniel. All
of those Jews alive in the days of Jesus' ministry on earth knew
how God had worked with His people of old, and it was God's way,
through the Lord Jesus Christ, of telling those Jewish disciples,
that before Jesus Himself will come in literal bodily form, (as
we see Him in Revelation 19 sitting on a white horse, when that
is literally Him) it will be preceded by the coming of these two
prophets. Not the literal Moses and Elijah of old, but two other
Jews with that same anointing those men in the Old Testament were
moved by. That anointing brought about the specific results God
sent it forth for in the past; and it will do so each time it
is sent forth. Bro. Branham's ministry was under the anointing
the Elijah of old carried. It has always been a God identifying
anointing; and you will certainly have to agree that much of Bro.
Branham's ministry was that of identifying the ONE true and living
which is Spirit, and in repudiating the idea that God is three
persons. This three person God is a pagan concoction that has
no place in the lives of end time Christians. Those two anointings
of Moses and Elijah will absolutely forerun the coming of Christ
for His Millennial reign. We can say this then, Thatthere will
definitely be two prophets, Moses and Elijah, in their type fulfillment
which was characterized in Haggai and Zechariah when the second
temple was being built, on the scene in Israel when the Millennial
Temple is being built. That is the order of God; so I will now
return to the thought I was dealing with. It is absolutely evident,
that in the plan of God this Gentile world is definitely being
cut off. I have to believe the door of revelation as to how a
man and woman gets into the church of the living God is ready
to be closed any moment. In the mind of God Gentiles have had
their chance. As I am made aware of how God deals with people
down here, it lets me know He does not start ten years before
the closing of the door, to do the things He is doing. He will
start that and by the time that door is closed you can rest assured
there is nobody else going to be interested in getting into what
you and I believe and understand. Therefore if God could show
three disciples the images of two prophets that was to forerun
the coming of Christ, and could show them by the Spirit in that
fashion, then I have to say He could use the image of William
Branham in this day and hour when his name has bocome such a sour
taste in the mouth of a lot of religious people. No wonder religious
leaders want to pounce on it: Look what a following he has. They
do not see people like you and me: they see all this other crazy
stuff running to and fro claiming to be in the message of William
Branham. If there is something in you and me that God wants this
religious world to see: that we are a people that can say Yes
Sir, I know who this man was, I sat under his teaching, I have
read his sermons, I have a picture in my heart because of it,
then He is going to open up the way for such a thing to come about.
We have to say, That man was definitely sent to get us out of
all this religious mess of confusion that God Had already spewed
out of His mouth. God is going to wash us, scrub us down, and
pull us through the washing machine of His word until He gets
all of that denominational, antichrist junk out of us. Therefore
do not think for one minute that we are going to sit here fussing
and stewing and chewing gum like a bunch of Methodists, Baptists
or any of the others, when He gets through with us. We are going
to be thankful to God for what we believe; and do whatever it
takes to uphold it. We are going to come to church because we
are thankful for truth; and thankful for the privilege of being
able to come. If God can speak to certain men by letting them
see the image's of two prophets of old, to show and forecast something
in the future for the Jewish people, then what is wrong with Him
using the image of a Gentile prophet who was definitely sent to
this Gentile age and was rejected by most, because they claimed
he was head of a cult: to help get our thinking pointed in the
right direction? There are still some in the midst of the people
God is working with: that need to receive a revelation that this
man truly was sent from God to this generation as the messenger
to this age. No one is going out of here in the rapture while
still having questions in their mind about the office and calling
of Bro. Branham. You cannot reject the one God sends and still
retain favor with God. Every individual of the bride of Christ
will have in their knowledge a revelation of who he was, why he
was sent, and the truth he brought to this age. The devil will
not be able to push off a lot of nonsense on them because they
will know the truth. Even though there are those who would like
to eradicate his name from the face of the earth, there is going
to be an element of people in the end time that will walk right
out of here with a knowledge and revelation in their heart's,
that if it had not been for that man, we would not be where we
are today. That makes Revelation 10:7 line right up: "But
in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin
to sound, the mystery of God (meaning the Church, the body
of Christ that is brought out of Babylon) should be finished,
as He hath declared to His servants the prophets." It
all started with the fact that his message is the thing that set
it in motion. God is going to finish it right here. That is why
I believe, when I saw Bro. Branham standing before the audience
in my dream, it is not that we are to think he is coming back
from the dead: but that somehow the anointing of God, using the
man's image to convey something to, when it is made known, the
little Bride of Christ is going to know something that is going
to help her get out of this world. Hallelujah!
THE BUILDING OF THE JEWISH TEMPLE
I have something about the building of the temple.
I was sent two tapes which came direct from Jerusalem. I have
not listened to them yet; but I want to read a paragraph from
what I am holding. The man's name is Gershon Solomon. He fought
in the war of 58 and was run over by a Syrian tank. They were
about to shoot him when all of a sudden the Syrian troops began
to run everywhere. The same Syrian troops told him later that
when they were about to shoot him, all of a sudden there were
angels all about him and they could not shoot him. I am looking
at that paragraph right here. He is the descendant of this old
rabbi who back in 1811 set about the beginning process of the
rebirth of Israel. Now, at this time, here is what this man is
doing. He is definitely trying to educate an element of the Jewish
society, and has created a movement; so here is what he says.
"To publicly proclaim the message of the temple mount
and land of Israel movement in newspapers, wires, posters, newsletters,
radio and television, to demonstrate publicly, to raise awareness
of Israel to the issue of the third temple, the temple mount,
and the land of Israel. To buy a house in the old city, Biblical
Jerusalem, (that is the old walled part) near the temple mount,
to establish a spiritual and educational center to be used by
everyone. The four ton cornerstone will be stored and exhibited
on this site. This first stone of the third temple will soon be
laid. To organize consciousness for the study of the issues dealing
with the temple mount and the third temple." Reading
that, it sounds like they are ready to lay the corner stone; but
that is not what he is saying. They are just going to display
the stone in this building they were wanting to purchase. That
is only to put it on display, because he feels the time is close
at hand when they will have the temple mount back in their possession
and the cornerstone which will be on display for people to look
at in the meantime, is the first stone that will be laid when
the time does come. That should be enough to cause Gentile Christians
to realize where we are in time. In other words, when you begin
to get things like this out into society, you begin to see that
if in the heart of Jewish people there is this fervent feeling
that they know they are living just before the coming of the Messiah,
then we as Gentile people ought to begin to realize God has given
us enough in His word to awaken us and make us aware that we must
be getting close to the coming of Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom:
The ONE who is coming for us as a thief in the night, to take
us to glory.
REVIEW OF SOME POINTS ALREADY MADE
I want to go back to Haggai and reread two verses as we continue
to look for clues concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
to take us out of here. What kind of clue are we looking for?
Things in the scriptures that will help us better understand how
close we are getting to the coming of Jesus Christ. We will either
do that or we will just build a fantasy in our mind that has no
substantial basis of truth by which we can build our hopes upon.
I prefer to have my anticipations built upon something vindicated
by the holy scriptures. Whatever we believe that is going to be
of any benefit to our spiritual stature has to have some scriptural
basis. Somewhere there are clues in the Bible pointing to everything
God has determined to do. Many times the Bible is read and looked
upon from the standpoint, Yes it is the sacred word of God; and
it is the divine truth and infallible; but there is no interest
in learning the formula for understanding its contents. Without
that we are just really reading words that have very little reality.
That is what is wrong with the religious world today. When I say
that, we want to look for a clue, something that will point and
help you and me to look at our present hour of time. Are we really
getting close to the coming of Jesus? Is there Bible facts that
establish that? Can we really base it on something in the Bible,
or are we just groping for something hanging on a thread? We have
been looking at the scriptures in Haggai 2, dealing with the word
of the Lord spoken through Haggai concerning the people that had
returned from captivity with a commission to rebuild the house
of God at Jerusalem, and concerning the way God Himself looked
upon them and their efforts. We are using this chart with various
scriptures and dates that will help you grasp the actual setting
better than just listening to me read and speak of them. To that
element of people, clearing that pile of rubbish from the temple
mound and preparing the spot so they could start building, was
a task that seemed so great when they stood looking at that mountain
of stone and rubbish. They needed a word from the Lord to encourage
them; and God spoke that through the prophets Haggai and Zechariah.
Looking at that mountain of stone and rubbish, their task looked
almost impossible to them. All of that rubbish had been lying
there for 70 long years, and probably had a lot of brush growing
up through all of it, so where would they begin their work of
clearing away all of that and actually start putting together
something they felt would constitute the beginning of a new spiritual
relationship between them and their God? We see that more clearly
as we read Ezra or Nehemiah; but here in Haggai and Zechariah,
we find two men we do not know much about: even though they prophesied
not only to that element of people, but also pointed to the hour
you and I live in. They both said specific things that is important
for you and I to grasp and actually see where they fit into the
overall picture. We find clues in all of these prophesies: but
for now I want to move on to our present hour of time before we
look at these others. We have a line on our little chart representing
the time when we had a Gentile prophet messenger in our midst:
the Malachi 4:5-6 prophet with the Elijah anointing. Beyond that
we have something Zechariah prophesied about in the 4th chapter
of his prophecy: which is the two olive trees of Revelation 11:3
that shall come on the scene in Israel in the first half of Daniel's
seventieth week to reveal the Messial to spiritual Israel and
demonstrate the power of God as did Moses and Elijah of old. They
will fulfill Zechariah 4:3, and also 4:14 which says, "Then
said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord
of the whole earth." Therefore if we are looking at ourselves
as a Gentile Bride people, then we have to begin to understand
that we are really getting close to the coming of Christ in the
rapture. You either believe that, or you are looking at the whole
thing as some far flung event to take place that we know nothing
at all about. Do we know when He is coming? Not the day and hour,
but we do know we are in the season. We absolutely have Biblical
facts to show He is not coming to His bride as a thief in the
night. As far as the make-believing church world is concerned
He is coming as a thief in the night; but to the true believers
it will not be as a thief in the night.
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