FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END

I BELIEVE WE ARE ALL GOING TO LEARN SOMETHING AS WE LOOK AT THESE VARIOUS PROPHECIES THAT LEAD RIGHT UP TO THE WEEK OF DANIEL WHICH IS YET TO BE FULFILLED. WE ARE USING THIS CHART TO HELP ILLUSTRATE THE PROGRESSION OF TIME; AND EACH OF THESE LITTLE FRAMES REPRESENT THE FRAME OF A WINDOW. TIME MOVES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT AS WE DEAL WITH THE MESSAGE AND ENDS UP IN THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL. EACH OF THESE WINDOW FRAMES REPRESENT A SPAN OF TIME ALL WITHIN A PERIOD OF TIME CALLED THE LAST DAYS. OVER AND OVER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES, YOU WILL READ PHRASES LIKE, IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS; AND, IN THE LAST DAYS IT SHALL BE THUS AND SO, AND ON AND ON, BUT IN THE LAST DAYS. THEREFORE WE NEED TO REALIZE WE HAVE BEEN LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS DURING THIS WHOLE DISPENSATION OF GRACE TO THE GENTILES. IT IS ALL REFERRED TO AS THE LAST DAYS. PETER USED THE 2ND CHAPTER OF JOEL ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, IN REFERRING TO WHAT WAS GOING ON RIGHT THEN: THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. THAT IS THE SCRIPTURE HE USED TO SHOW THOSE JEWS THAT SCRIPTURE WAS BEING FULFILLED; SO LET US LOOK AT SOME SCRIPTURES THAT ARE READY TO BE FULFILLED HERE IN THE LAST OF THE LAST DAYS.

Within that space of time known as the last days, we will enter into a time factor wherein there are various scriptures, four of them we will consider, pointing to the later days. In other words there are many references to the last days; but we want to consider these that speak of the latter days. This means that in the latter days of this period of time which is called the last days, we will see certain prophecies fulfilled that could not have been fulfilled at any other time in history. As we mentioned before, We have all heard about this so called peace thing that has been signed by the government of Israel, as well as the PLO, or Palestinian Arabs who live inside the land, basically in the Gaza Strip and the regions of Jericho, referred to as the West Bank. There is no giving up of any land in that. That is a social and political thing. They are trying to see, you might say it is Israel testing the temperature of the water, to see what really is the various attitudes of these Palestinian Arabs. That is why it is a social, and/or a political thing. That is, they will allow the Arabs in the Gaza Strip to govern themselves, to have their own police force, and deal in their own domestic problems and Israel will stay out of it. It will work the same way with the Palestinian Arab in the region of Jericho. You have Jericho way over here, (pointing to chart) and the Gaza strip way down here; so for the sake of looking at this, let us just say that this much will work; but there is still another spot to consider. That is the old walled city Jerusalem itself. Israel took that back in 1967, the same time they took the Gaza Strip, and the old land of Jericho. Therefore I cannot help but believe that if these Arabs in these two areas covered by this agreement do settle down, and it does work out socially, the Palestinian Arabs that live in the old walled city part are going to demand the same treatment. I have pointed out to you many times before, that three fourths of that old city is populated by Arabs. Therefore there is no reason to think they will not demand the same treatment as the others. Then, when that does start, we are looking at how God looks upon all of that. I believe time is running out for this whole world system of human government and such like, as well as for the fulfillment of these various prophecies. Therefore if and whenever those Palestinians living in the old walled city begin to set up a demand for the same self government, this would mean they have no intention of ever leaving that city. They will have every intention of staying in that city; and that will not work. Isaiah 49 tells us what is going to be their future. They will be far removed from there. Two scriptures in the 49th chapter speak of how those that made Jerusalem waste will be far removed: so we know there will be something in the near future that will develop politically and socially among these various Palestinian Arabs that will set their course. One thing is sure, What God has spoken through His prophets of old will come to pass no matter what politicians of the world may do. Naturally they think they are doing something worthwhile, but that is because they have no confidence in what is written so clearly in the scriptures. Well, we have confidence in them, so let us examine their contents in the order we have laid out on this chart. The reason we have designed it in this fashion is because we have 15 different prophecies all leading up to this period of time and still there are more in the Bible. These are major prophecies; but there are other minor prophecies you can fit right into these groups as we go along. The ones we have listed are prophecies that bring out details about certain things that are to develop within the overall restoring and bringing the Jews back to their homeland and establishing Israel as a nation. We are going to start in the beginning of this, and show you how these various prophecies, spoken over centuries of time, apart from what the next prophet would say, and yet show us how accurate they are, if we can just perceive them to accomplish certain things in their respective period of time. I used this illustration in Norway and spoke of it here already- how you cannot take any of these prophecies at random, jot them down on a piece of paper, each one individually, put them in a can and shake them up, then reach in and draw one out and expect God to fulfill that particular prophecy anywhere other than the precise time it was given for. That is not the way prophecy works. Prophecy has a certain pattern and a certain sequence; and there is nothing that can alter God's plan and purpose for them. That shows how God has designed to bring certain things about at a precise time, and in a certain way. Many times their fulfillment will take people by surprise; but God knows what He is doing. We are going to start with what I think is one of the best prophecies that will introduce us to this picture that we are going to begin to explore. Therefore we are starting way back here (pointing to chart) before 1939; but as time progresses we will notice how these scriptures drop into their period of time and begin to be fulfilled. The ending of it all is right there; and the bride of Christ is gone from here. If you will notice this purple line on the chart, this is the prophecy that we took the title of the subject, "Time is running out" from, found in Hosea 6. Let us turn to that scripture now, because we want to establish the line itself. We started out when we preached that message using this first verse, which portrays a spiritual motive, an attitude of dispersed Jews scattered over the earth. When you think how the Holy Spirit caused this prophecy to be uttered 780 years before the advent of Christ, even before the ten tribes were carried off into captivity, and realize how looking down through the span of time He saw the day when this 20th century would come into focus and God's people, Israel, would be dispersed to the ends of the earth, and the attitude of the people at a particular time, you have to know that this whole thing is a perfectly outlined plan of the great Creator. These things are not just by coincidence. Somehow or other this prophecy portrays the prayerful attitude that would begin to drop on that particular generation of Jews as they would begin to say, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, (that is what their being scattered accomplished) and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight." That prophecy, from 780 B.C. runs straight down to the day when the week of Daniel ends everything pertaining to this time factor. We cannot go beyond this point. The term after two days, will end right here: after Israel has heard their two prophets that will prophesy to them in the first 3 1/2 years of the seventieth week of Daniel and the wrath of God is poured out upon unbelieving and wicked mankind. Right here in the first part of that week is where Israel is going to be dealt with by the two prophets and there is where they will be revived and an element of Jews in the land will be brought back to a spiritual understanding of why they have been in dispersion for so many centuries, and why God dealt with them in the way He did. Notice it says here, "in the third day," that means following that week, as it closes out with wrath of God and then the Millennium starts. The third day is the Millennium that continues on beyond this point of time; (after the week of Daniel ends) and lasts for another day (one thousand years). This is why we have this purple line running like this on our chart. We will let that scripture rest there as we go ahead and look at some others.

Open your Bible's to the 2nd chapter of Joel. In the first chapter God speaks how there is going to be an army of locusts, cankerworm, palmer worm and caterpillar come and devour the tree and the vine. All that is symbolic language, that those four different type of insects portrayed is symbolic of the four world empires God used through time, the Babylonian, the Medes and Persians, the Greek, and then the Roman. Those four empires definitely did devour and destroy and pluck away the very life expectancy of the nation of Israel. It looked like that nation could never survive all of that and be restored again. Yet here is a prophecy that speaks differently. Turn to Joel 2, verse 25. In the former verses it begins to collectively tell what God has in mind; but to cut the subject short we have to pick these three. "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer worm, my great army which I sent among you. (They are all symbols of world empires that devastated, Israel, not only a social nation together, but destroyed their ability to live in the land. It destroyed their right to have a king, and it destroyed their right to call Jerusalem their holy, beloved city, when it was these four empires that constantly ruled over that land. Therefore God promises them something better.) And ye shall eat in plenty, (Naturally this prophecy has a two fold picture. First there has to be a process of restoration. Then there are the benefits the people are to enjoy out of this restoration.) and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed." Naturally that prophecy is a continuation, a promise. Not only did He promise to restore, but He promises that in doing this restoration they are definitely eternally safe forever and they will know from that day on God is with them forevermore. We can say then, that this prophecy holds a key promise. It goes along with that Hosea prophecy wherein the people begin to say, Come and let us return unto the Lord. We can see how all these have to link together. Remember, you cannot take these prophecies from here, (pointing to chart) and put them over here. Why? Because there is a time factor involved. Everything we will read is confined to a time factor that maintains the sequence. That is why we have these windows on our chart. Each window represents a period of time, a precise period of time wherein these scriptures do have an earthly fulfillment. You cannot place them 15 years ahead of their hour, or 15 years behind their hour. There is a precise time when they fall in line to be fulfilled. In the two scriptures we have read we can see how somewhere back in here these two begin to line up. The spiritual minded Jew could look toward that. In 1968 when we went to Israel and talked with this Rabbi you have heard me speak of, (His name was Benjamin David.) He told us when the Zionist movement first began back before the dawning of the 20th century, 1800 and something, when the Jewish fathers scattered all over the world began to collectively gather together and design the strategy for Jews to set about returning home to the land of their father's, they had all this hostile opposition. The Arabs owned the land. It took them a long time to agree, and come to a solution as to how they would set about the task of acquiring the land. That is why in their initial beginning they had altogether planned on beginning to move throughout the earth, going to the various major areas where Jews lived, and speaking in the synagogues, laying forth this plan they had devised. The rabbi we talked to said when those old teachers and fathers began to make these speeches in many places, they were booed down, as if the Jew at that time said, Well I am not about to listen to that kind of nonsense. To dramatize it a little, it might have sounded something like this, (because if you and I were faced with such circumstances, I can see just how we human beings are prone to react). Do you mean I am supposed to leave everything I have worked to accomplish and go follow that bunch of fanatics and do all of that? Ha! No indeed! Not me! Let us just see how that fits into scriptures. There is a scripture that begins to bring this out. I want to say this, If there is any Jewish friend or person that plays the tape or sees it on video, or maybe would read it some time, please keep in mind, I am saying these things with deep respect for what God has done in restoring Israel to where she is today. Regardless of what some Jews might have in their own personal opinions about the Zionist movement, which I know very little about, other than things that I have read here and there and what this rabbi told me, I know enough that I am able to see the scriptural setting. God has used all of that to bring Israel face to face with the hour she is now living in. He had His own way of doing what they were endeavoring to do; so He just let them stir up the mind's of a few of those who would be affected: then He made His move.

Let us go to the prophecy of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah, the ten northern tribes at this time had been carried off into captivity over a hundred years beforehand. The two southern tribes were being attacked and Jeremiah was prophesying. In this 16th chapter, here is a promise again, but it is a promise that deals specifically as to how God will set this restoration in motion. Jeremiah 16, verses 14 to 18. "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. (I was just reading in the Jerusalem Post, In one of those southern provinces of Russia, near Afghanistan, the Jerusalem Post told how they had just brought so many thousand Jews out of that province. They just made the announcement. They told in this article how many more Jews are left in that province, they are making preparation to bring them out. You do not hear much in the world news today just how many Jews are coming back, but it says most all of those came back to the land of Israel. Here God is telling, not in dramatic, elaborate ways, but just in a brief sentence what He will do.) (16) Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; (That was the beginning of the Zionist movement. What is a fisher? He is a man that casts out bait. How many realize that? He baits. He is not going to catch anything unless he can successfully use the right kind of bait. Will you agree with me? That is why we have to understand those early fathers and leaders of Israel's future, at the beginning, just before the 20th century started, as they began to collectively get this vision, the time is coming we must make preparation to go home, back to the land of our fathers. They knew they had a job. It was global, so they planned to send men they felt could speak and teach and instruct and convince the masses. As that rabbi said, Many times they were booed down, made fun of. In other words, God sent out messengers who were like fishermen. They had to bait their speech with the proper illustration, giving it a meaning, otherwise that Jew was not going to bite it. Watch what is next.) and after will I send for many hunters, (a hunter does not use bait. He uses a weapon to kill. Do you catch the meaning?) and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. (17) For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. (18) And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things." That is why you see the year 1939 up here on the chart. The Zionist movement, up until this period of time when WW2 was set in motion, was basically depending on speeches among gatherings, slowly spreading the word, and getting the people convinced that it is time to go home. They had set a long range strategy that as the Zionist movement, from the wealthier Jews throughout the world would contribute from their various sums of money, their aim was to send volunteers, Jews that were willing to go back and face the hardships and buy back this land acre by acre, mile by mile. If God would have left it to be done that way, there probably would not even be a nation of Israel today. We must remember though, He had a plan, and He had a way to set it in motion. Therefore in 1939, in the month of March, (I believe it was in the Jerusalem Post in 1989) the article stated that this was when Hitler actually started the conflict, and the Jew reckons their dilemma starting about that time. In the month of March came Hitler's forces moving into Austria. Some of the first people that began to be rounded up, questioned and you might say brought under scrutiny, was the Jewish people. Little did the Jewish societies that lived throughout Europe then even realize at that point in time what was in the making. But from March of 1939, and on into 40, 41, 42, Jews from all over the vast regions of eastern Europe, wherever Hitler's army went, were rounded up by the SS troops and treated worse than animals. The world probably does not have enough books printed to really tell how the German troops rounded up those poor Jewish people, hunting them until they found their hiding places. Even though there were many that were successfully hidden in basements, attics, caves and such like, there were great multitudes that were not hidden well enough to escape the scrutiny of their pursuers. Those that could not find a hiding place, that is what it means there, He will hunt from every hill and valley. God knew that if something like this did not take place, the Jewish people of the 20th century would be just like the Jews in Egypt: that would have been satisfied to stay there. People get settled in a certain place, and in this case many owned property and had livestock: so they would not have been anxious to leave all of that to go back there and face uncertainty? No sir. That is why we can say, (and not because we enjoy thinking about how many million Jews were martyred, and for what reason? It looked senseless. It was brutal.) They would not have left there without what happened. They had not caused Hitler's problems; but to Hitler, they were an opposition to his future, to what he had planned in Europe. He felt like he had to get rid of the Jewish race, so when he set about to round them up, all the way from Denmark, everywhere they could find then, Norway and wherever, they would round them up and put them in concentration camps. Then finally into the death camps. Some were burned alive, martyred in various ways, just butchered and tortured. I read one place where as the war was coming to a close, they had rounded up Jewish children for a reason you could never imagine. The German army was getting so low on blood supplies for wounded soldiers, they took the Jewish children, lined them up and tied them, then drew all the blood out of them to use for blood transfusions for their wounded soldiers brought in from the front lines. What a tragedy. What a brutal thought, to think that a tyrant like Hitler could devise and carry out such a plan. The point is this, When God sent hunters, he did not send them with a hook and bait, he sent them with weapons to kill. By the time WW2 had come to a close in 1945, six million Jews had been butchered. Europe had been ravaged. That left the remaining Jews in that area of the world crying for the opportunity to go home. God knew exactly how to set it all in motion. By that time, those that were left alive were ready to go home. This of course brings us to another prophecy that is related to this gradual restoration. We want to look at enough of them to give you a picture of what to expect as time for the Gentiles comes to a close.

Let us turn to Ezekiel 34:11. This is a prophecy of generality. It just speaks of a promise, how God would deal with the nation in all of this. I am going to start in the 11th verse, and read only enough for you to get the point. "For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out." We can see that this is actually how God began to deal in respective areas of the earth, whether it was in Yemen, or areas where it looked impossible to get that Jewish element out of there. God definitely did move in a supernatural way in many cases, to be able to get those Jews out of there before the door was slammed shut. (12) "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Those years and months that closed out WW2, what a tragedy it was when the Jewish people, at that time, did not have a government. Yet they were trying their best to make contact with the isolated, dispersed Jews that were scattered all over the world; and let them know it was time to come home. Keep in mind, The U.N. had petitioned a certain piece of land in the land of Palestine that set the stage in the beginning. That is what opened the way for the rest. Having said that, Let us move quickly to another prophecy. It is in the 36th chapter, verses 8-12. Here is one thing we can say and look at with confidence, It does not matter what world leaders are doing right now, and how they are all patting Israel and the Palestinians on the back for what they have done. I am looking at something here in God's word that lets me know God will over-ride every bit of this when His hour of time does come. When His hour of time arrives for Him to drop down one of these prophecies and set it in motion, there is not a thing that our president or any man with all the wealth of the world can do to change it. Watch what this prophecy says. Verse 8, "But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, (This was spoken long before it was ever to be in operation.) and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. (9) For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown." In 1939 coming on up to 1948, which is the date over the next window on our chart, in the valley of Jezreel, which is the planes of Megiddo, where the battle of Armageddon is to be fought, and the valley also which was the bread basket of the ten northern tribes, 800 and 900 years before Christ, it was more or less like a wilderness. That valley was to the ten Northern tribes of Israel what our states like Iowa and Nebraska are to this nation: where so much of our corn, soybeans, wheat and all that is grown. It is our bread basket, so to speak. Yet in Hosea, when you read that, you see that God speaks of how the valley of Jezreel would become sort of like a wilderness, all grown up. After the ten tribes had been taken out of there, slowly that land ceased to be tilled. Then through the centuries, coming right on into the 20th century, different guides have told us it was just a wilderness; and that it even became a swamp. They had crocodiles in there. It was not until after 1948, when the people which were there at that time did become recognized and were allowed to become the state of Israel, that this situation began to change. The Jews began to slowly buy up this land and take steps to change in back into a productive valley; and when you go there today, you see that every acre of it is now in full production. You know what it says in Hosea. It tells how the judgment of God would rest on it, but in the days when God is reclaiming it, great shall be the day of Jezreel, when God restores it and brings it back into productivity. That is why we associate that with this prophecy. "And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded." Do you see now why we do not have to be alarmed at what politicians of the world are doing? God has this whole thing under control. He will only allow carnal minded mankind to go so far: Then He will bring about circumstances to turn it all right into the stream of His will, that which these prophecies tell us of. When we think of the Golan Heights, that is a little strip laying right in here next to Syria. It is across here, on this side of the river. They took that in the Six Day War. The Golan Heights is actually territory that belonged to the ten tribes in ancient times, before they were captured and taken out of there. On top of that, there is more of this land over here, that goes like this, that they take, (pointing to chart) plus down in here. Benjamin is on this side, over here. With that now, let us notice what this prophecy says. (11) "And I will multiply upon you man and beast; (This shows us there would have to be a period of time as God begins the restoration process of the land, to house the people, and the people to occupy the land. There will have to come a time that the nation gradually becomes more and more in population, not counting the Arabs that are there, but counting the Jews that are found there. That is why He would multiply man and beast upon it.) and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, (In other words, God is looking at the deed. Take that back to Genesis, where you find the deed God promised Abraham when He brought him out of the land of Mesopotamia into this land. I will give you all this land from such and such a place.) and will do better unto you (Just listen to this.) than at your beginnings. (I will do better. That lets me know there is no way this western world and all its military power can change the picture of God's word. He said, "I will do better unto you;" and that is exactly what He meant.) and ye shall know that I am the Lord." Of course it goes on and says more there, but I believe we can begin to see as we have read these various prophecies, and begin to see how we can look through this first window as the time began. When 1948 came, these things were already set in motion. Therefore we want to look at something else.

We find the next prophecy we want to look at in Isaiah 66. Here is a prophecy that shows us something more. We are reading verse 8-12. This is why we drew these windows on our chart. Try to keep in mind the particular window is only a means for you to look at an overall period of time related to certain years when you can recognize how God worked to set that prophecy in motion. Here, Isaiah prophesied like this, "Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. (9) Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. (10) Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her." Naturally there is more in that prophecy that is related, as that has a continuous application straight on through. But the point was, we have to realize there was a precise time the nation became politically known to the world; and that was the year 1948 when they were given statehood by a vote of the United Nations.

Let us go to Zechariah 10 for another verse. We want to show how to look at Zechariah 10 as we look through this window, coming on to our right. We will read verse 3. "Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, (The Lord is reminding the Jewish people why they had been dispersed.) and I punished the goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited His flock (First He reminds them why they have been out of there, but now that He has brought them back to start a new beginning He speaks to them like this.) the house of Judah, and hath made them as His goodly horse in the battle." That lets us know that Judah was the tribe that God had His eye on in the initial beginning of the restoration of this nation. We can see how this prophecy begins to figure into this. At this time, since this is 1993, and 1967 is back up there, (That is the one war she took this land which the world is wanting her to give up some of.) but the point is this, This prophecy lets us know God had a precise reason for bringing Judah back first. That is why in Europe and central Europe it was basically those two southern tribes that were dealt with so severely in the manner they were. That was the people God wanted to get back there first because Judah is going to be a tool for God to use. That is why it says here, "and hath made them as His goodly horse in the battle." Well actually a lot of people say, I just do not understand what that means, "goodly horse." Saints you really would have to know something about horses in warfare to see why it is mentioned like that here, but God knew there would be enough who would know, that others could learn from them. I will illustrate what is meant. I have read two particular instances, I have referred to them in another message some time ago. Out in West Texas, there is an old frontier fort which is a museum now. Inside that museum is a stuffed horse. They stuffed this horse because the fort was built in the days when the covered wagon trains were going across the west to California. This was an outpost of soldiers to help guard the passage through the wilderness against the Indians. The story goes like this: A cavalry captain and a group of soldiers on horseback were scouting the country, looking for Indians that might be on the prowl. Somehow or other this captain was shot by an Indian arrow. The arrow went through his leather boots, the calf of his leg and through the leather skirting of the saddle and entered the horse's body. What does that tell you? The man was fastened to the horse. He could not dismount. Most horses, being injured like that, would have gone wild, rearing up and only God knows what else. The captain realized he had to get out of the area because he was in a predicament where he could not fight the way it would be necessary to if he remained there. He headed back to the fort with these Indians on his trail. The article I read said that horse seemed to have stamina enough that it could always stay in front of the pursuer, yet when the officer would see the Indians dropping back, he would rein the horse in to save his energy. Through the night the horse kept going. As daylight came the next morning, he rode this horse through the gate of the old fort. They had to take the arrow apart in order to get the captain off of the horse. When they got him off the horse, the veterinarian took the horse and began to work on him. He had to cut the arrow out of his side. They tried to save the horse's life because of it being such a gallant animal, but the horse died in the process because it had lost too much blood. The whole outfit thought so much of the horse because of how he had so gallantly ran to get his rider out of danger they wanted to do something other than just bury him and forget about him. He was truly a goodly horse in battle. That is why it is written like this here in Isaiah: He (God) has made Judah His goodly horse in battle. Remember saints, Those Jews returning to their homeland were people who had spent time in jail, been in prisons, beaten and abused. As they were privileged to get back to the land of Judah, somehow or other they had been molded into vessels that would press the battle. They did not become rattled and go hysterical when danger lay before them. They had a reason for wanting to fight. That is why God could speak it like this in the prophecy. This was a bunch of Jews that had been brought out of concentration camps and were already at death's door when the war ended. Therefore when God brought them out and returned them to their homeland, they were not like this compromising bunch of political Jews we read about in the News all the time: they were ready to fight for what is rightfully theirs. When we read in history of the time those Jews began to come in there, you find that there was battle after battle fought. It seems that as those Arabs became more hostile to the Jews in the land, they determined not to allow the Jewish state to have a beginning at all. Yet the Jewish people, basically the tribe of Judah that God was dealing with, were likened unto the goodly horse in battle. They just simply refused to give up until the job was done. Because of that we can say this, From 1948 when their statehood was initiated and on, and especially in the years of 1953 and 1956 there were conflicts between them and the Arabs that stood out; and each time they encountered those conflicts they became stronger and stronger and ever so much wiser. Then because of that, they were being added to all the time. Today, they are a great nation and the nations of the world do not know what to do with them.
Let us now go to verse 4 of Zechariah 10. "Out of him (Judah) came forth the corner, (This is symbolic language. If God is going to build something, if God is going to do anything with or for the Jews He is going to use Judah first.) out of him the nail, (What is a nail? It is something that holds something together.) out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together." Well I do not understand that, Bro. Jackson. Let us look at it this way then, When I read of the various conflicts these Jews have had since they were brought back there and dumped in this land, (The U.N. had gave them this so much land.) they had no weapons. The weapons they did have were obsolete WW1 rifles. Some of them were so obsolete they could not even get ammunition for them. In those years there were various miracles testified to, as to how God preserved those Jewish people. Up in the northern part of Israel, (Some of you were with us when we went to the Kibbutz on our tour) up close to where the end of the Sea of Galilee is, that Kibbutz still has an old tank displayed there. That was an Arab tank that tried to break through the barbed wire barriers the Jews had erected there with trenches below. I remember the guide telling us how the people inside of this Kibbutz had been shut in for several days expecting this final onslaught by the Arabs. They had determined they would do their best to save the ammunition. They made Molotov cocktails with what they had to work with. There was a girl around 13 years of age. She was hidden in a trench, and when that Arab tank came plowing through the barbed wire barrier, she waited until that tank was over her. Then the minute it passed over her she raised up out of that trench, crawled up on the back of the tank and threw that Molotov cocktail down where the motor was, and the tank went up in flames. I could go on and on like this. Up in Safed, (I read this in the book "Exodus," how those defenders there fought the Arabs. They were down to the last few shells and bullets for their old rifles. One man made his way through enemy territory to Jerusalem to ask some of the commanders of the Hague, the underground army of Israel, (if it is spelled right) for some ammunition to defend themselves with and they turned him away empty handed saying to him, We do not even have enough ammunition for ourselves. He went back and told the news to his people, but that was not the end of the story. To show you how God can use that people to fulfill His word and to help us understand His language, "out of him came the battle bow," just listen how they were inspired to go about defending their existence. They had some dynamite. They had an old bucket. What good is that? you may say. They rounded up all the nails, bolts, nuts and such like and put them in this bucket. They put the dynamite in there with them and fixed a fuse. Then they made a catapult, something like a giant mouse trap. At a particular time when they expected they could render the most hurt to the Arabs, they launched that bucket of nuts and bolts, not knowing what the outcome would be. However when that thing landed where it did and went off, the Arabs began to cry out, They have the atomic bomb! They have the atomic bomb! Needless to say, Safed was spared. I could go on and on like this, and I tell these things for the glory of God: I am not making jokes out of it. It is a fact God used these Jews in means and ways the average person could never perceive. That is why you have to read that prophecy like this, "out of him came the battle bow," as the instruments of defense, to defend themselves. Just look how it is today, They have some of the fastest fighting planes in the world. They have some of the highest technology to be found anywhere. When the day comes God ever turns Israel loose, and He will one of these days, I am going to tell you, it is going to make our Gulf War look like kids play. They have high tech capabilities now. It is no longer a bucket of rusty nails, nuts and bolts and dynamite. It is all the other things put together. The point is, In this prophecy, God brings Judah first. That was going to be the beginning. Out of him is all these qualities He can use to set everything in motion. Let us continue on. Verse 5, "And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded. (6) And I will strengthen the house of Judah, (I will stop right there to say this, In 1967 God showed the world just how far Judah had come since 1948. In the 1967 war, God showed the world just what Judah had climbed to. When God turned Judah loose in 1967, it was not with buckets of nuts and bolts. It was with weapons they knew how to use and were just as capable of using as anyone could be. Yet on the other hand, when you look at the military balance from the standpoint of logic, it looked like it was impossible for Israel to defend herself; because she was out gunned, she was out planed, she was outnumbered on the field of men; but God gave her wisdom. That is why when you read that verse, "They shall be as mighty men which tread down their enemy," it is because God is fighting with them. Most of you in here know by reading various magazines and by the things shown on TV how in that six day war, God fought with her. You can see that verse of scripture coming right into focus and how that little nation has grown since then.) and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them." This lets us know as we look back at what God did to Russia when He broke down the iron curtain and tore that kingdom all to pieces, that it was all a part of His overall plan. Since then, thousands of Jews have come out of that region back into the land of Israel, which naturally causes a situation in the land that western leaders, along with the Palestinian Arabs do not like. The Arab did not want Russia to let those Jews come home. As they began to come home, then immediately many of these Jews wanted to go back into the areas they feel their ancestors came from. They want to build there, but the western world leaders are pressuring Israel. You cannot do that. That is occupied territory. I can say tonight, the day will come when the western world will have to shut up, because God is going to give it to them according to their former boundaries. That is what the word estate means, according to their ancient boundaries. That is exactly what God is going to restore to them. As God saves Joseph, we have to realize there is something in this thing of saving Joseph, something most people overlook. "and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them." That means when God finishes what this prophecy speaks of they will be back as though they had always been there. (7) "And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord. (8) I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased." Joseph is one of the names that the ten tribes in the north were known by. Another is Ephraim. They are interchangeable, all the same thing. Of course when we speak of the ten tribes coming home, we do not know how many there are to come home; but we do know all of that lies in the plan of God. When we go into the 12th chapter we notice it is speaking of how God will save Judah first. Then it speaks of the house of David, because it is talking about the inhabitants that are going to dwell in Jerusalem. I will say this much at this time, The Jewish people that will eventually live in the old city of Jerusalem, will not be just any Jew that wants to live there. They will really have to have a genetic heritage that qualifies them to live in old Jerusalem. Keep in mind, when you go back in the Old Testament and King David took this ancient Jebusite city, after he took it, it was referred to for a long time as the city of David. Then later when it became the capital, it took on the name Jerusalem. Originally the inhabitants of the city were basically people related to King David. Knowing that David came out of the tribe of Judah, there is a certain family line in the tribe of Judah that pertains to King David's line. When you read the 12th chapter, and when the hour does come that God is going to cause Israel to pick up all these Palestinian Arabs and deport them, to get ready for this old city of Jerusalem to be renovated, redecorated and re-inhabited, just remember, not just every Jew running there, wanting to live there, will be allowed to; because there is a certain line of Judah, those that are related to King David, that will inhabit the places the scriptures speak of. Naturally there are people living in New Jerusalem which is spread out over the hills of Zion, from all over the world today, but there is a meaning to all of this and it will soon be brought to the surface.

In dealing with a message like this certain things just keep feeding into it as you go along, things that are not even on your mind when you begin. That is what I appreciate about the Spirit of God. Once He gets you started in the right direction, He can feed in whatever is fitting. We will be going into Hosea, chapter 6 in a few minutes, but first let me say this: There have been some things take place in the last few days, such as what looks like a temporary peace between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs in certain occupied areas. They will not call it temporary, but I am afraid I have to because of what I see in the scriptures. I have brought with me some pages from the Jerusalem Post, which I will read from just to show you what the government of Israel is really saying and what they mean. We have put a tape up here which represents an extension of this line on our chart. This part which looks like a Bible represents the 70th week of Daniel, the first 3 1/2 years and the last 3 1/2 years. They are two distinct periods of 3 1/2 years each, that make up the seventieth week of years of Daniel's prophecy of seventy weeks, which all together make a total of 490 years of God's dealing with the children of Israel because of their transgressions. We have to realize though, that the 70th week of Daniel, wherever in time it is negotiated and signed by Israel, sets in motion the last seven years of man's carnal minded human government on the face of this earth. There is no need for anyone playing around with time from that point on. It will be exactly seven years. You can suppose and what if all you want to, but you will not change anything whatsoever. When that seven years comes to its climax, that is the absolute end of this dispensation, and it will be time for the Millennial reign of Christ to begin. Jesus Christ Himself comes back to earth as this seven years is closing out. He comes endowed with the authority to pour out the wrath of God upon all wicked mankind, judge what is left, and set up His reign as King of all kings upon earth. That is why we can read in the Bible that Jesus Christ Himself is the one that destroys this man of sin by the brightness of His coming and by the word of His mouth. We just have to realize that this is not some 2, 3, 4, or 5 months of time, like we natural minded human beings would do things. The seven years has to be absolutely understood as a precise time factor. That is why Jesus said in Matthew 24, pointing to the last days, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days," thus and so. He was not talking about other periods of time when there has been severe persecution and tribulation by different societies, brought about by different human governments. He was talking about this 3 1/2 year period called the great tribulation, that the antichrist rules the world and tries his best to eliminate everyone who professes belief in God. Therefore when Jesus said immediately, He did not mean six months later. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and so forth, then shall appear the sign of the coming of the Son of Man in power and great glory. In other words He is literally coming as we would see Him in Revelation 19. He is coming to take over the government and kingdoms of this world. He will be the King of all the earth in that hour. That will bring about the end of all corruptness in government, when He sets up His righteous rule upon earth.

Right now, I want to familiarize you with something that will stand out vividly in the time factor we are now living in. Open your Bible's to Hosea 6. We are using a chart representing this entire time factor: so let us read these words from Hosea's prophecy. We must read this in order to familiarize ourselves with the prophetic setting. The first verse is dealing with how somewhere in the ending of time there would be a spirit begin to move upon the Jewish people, as they were scattered throughout the earth in dispersion. They would begin to work together and plan to set things in motion to return to the land of their father's, saying, (Hosea 6:1) "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up." That is absolutely pointing to the beginning of the Zionist movement, that began to be initiated by various rabbis and religious leaders, universally, scattered around the world, within the Jewish societies, as they began to perceive by certain things around them that time was running out and they needed to do something to prepare the heart of the Jewish people all over the world, to get ready to return to the land of their heritage. Notice the prophecy in this second verse. It was prophesied almost 800 years before Christ. It is prophesied before the ten tribes of northern Israel were taken into captivity. Therefore no Jew at that time knew what this was pointing to, but we know now that it was looking down through a great span of time to the last days. That of course is the time we are now living in. (2) "After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight." They will live in His sight because He (Jesus) will be here on earth. He will be sitting in Jerusalem in the rebuilt temple, as King of kings, and Lord of lords ruling the whole earth. We need to take a good look at that prophecy, after two days, since that is a prophecy in the Old Testament, and at that time the prophet had nothing in mind that could possibly acquainted him with the fact that there was going to be a period of time we Gentiles would refer to as the Grace Age. We can say this, since we have a fixed point as to how to apply this prophecy, and the fixed point is the 70th week of Daniel, no other place will Israel be revived. I hope you all realize that. It is the 11th chapter of Revelation. There is where the revival takes place. It is in the first part of Daniel's 70th week. It is also portrayed in the 7th chapter of Revelation where there is 144,000 sealed away. Where does it take place? In the first part of Daniel's 70th week, which is a three and one half year period. A three and one half year period is not solar time. It is prophetic time, meaning 1260 days. Just bear with me and I will do my best to definitely differentiate between what is called solar time and prophetic time, because prophecy does and is, many times, terminated and interpreted as we look at things through prophetic time. Here is something to consider. Why would the Bible speak so specifically in the 11th chapter that He will give power unto His two witnesses, and they will prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days? That is absolutely half of the seven years of prophetic time. Keep in mind though, it is not half of seven years of solar time. If you were to multiply three and one half years of solar time, you will have more than one thousand two hundred and threescore days. Check it out yourself. You can see this is a prophetic formula. That is why it is worded that way. Why does it say in Revelation 13, and power was given unto this man of sin that he should continue forty and two months? Keep in mind, forty and two months does not mean solar time. It has to be a balanced 360 day year. Therefore each one of these months is looked upon as 30 days each, which would also make it one thousand two hundred and threescore days. With that in mind, it is important that we look at Biblical fixed times. Here is where people miss it. Not that I am all that smart, but I am persuaded by the scriptures that we are getting close to the end of time. Even people in the world will say, On the eve of every two thousand years doesn't something always seem to take place? If we look at it from a Biblical setting, that seems to be the pattern of things. Would you not say so? Well we are seven years away, solar time, from the year 2000 A.D. after the advent and birth of Christ, which this period of time is identified by. In that time, it is solar time, that is what constitutes a year. We can say this, When that prophecy says, "after two days", that does not mean two days of 24 hours. That is two prophetic days of one thousand years each. We take that from the epistle of Peter, that a thousand years is as one day and one day as a thousand years. A day in that respect is not talking about a day of 24 hours. It is talking about a dispensational day. The prophet that prophesied it did not see the Grace Age as we see it, therefore when he uttered this, it became applicable to how God will deal with Israel at the end of this dispensation. Think also of this, With the week of Daniel fixed, as to when this revival is going to take place, then we must realize this, If we are measuring prophetic time back 2000 prophetic years, is has to bring us back to some calculated point of beginning. Will you agree with me? That is where the big question is; and it is all in the Bible, if we will look at things right. In this respect, the beginning of this is questionable from our standpoint. The fixed end is here. We know that is where the revival takes place; and we know the Millennium follows that. That of course is the third day. That is when He will be here. That is when He will rule and reign; and that is when the nation of Israel is going to shine above all other nations of the earth. That is why the 3rd verse reads like it does. Israel will be fully restored and we could say, She will be the envy of all other nations of the earth.