| Seven Sermons
THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL
I WANT TO DEAL WITH THIS MESSAGE IN THE LIGHT OF WHAT WE NOW SEE TAKING
PLACE IN THE WORLD. I FEEL IT IS VERY TIMELY IN THE LIGHT OF THINGS THAT
HAVE BEEN TRANSPIRING IN THE WORLD, TO BRING OUR THINKING UP TO DATE.
I DO NOT CLAIM TO BE ANY MORE OF AN AUTHORITY ON WHAT IS TAKING PLACE
IN THE WORLD THAN ANYONE ELSE, BUT THERE ARE THINGS TAKING SHAPE THAT
WE SHOULD BE VERY INTERESTED IN, ALERT, AND CONCERNED ABOUT THE OUTCOME.
REVELATION 14:6
With the government of Yugoslavia splitting, Russia making such drastic
changes, and the Middle East in such a turmoil, it behooves us to be concerned
about certain Bible prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled. Those of
you who know anything about history, especially Bible history, know the
ancient area of Greece, which was the third world empire, sprang from
what is Biblically called Mesopotamia. That covered Yugoslavia, Belgrade,
and Greece. At the end of WW2, Marshall Tito formed an independent Communistic
government that was unaligned with Russia. He lived to be quite old. All
the rest of that area outside of Greece went strictly Communistic under
the influence of Russia; but now, at the end of forty years since WW2,
we find this Communistic area collapsing. What does this tell us? As they
collapse, they have to become aligned with some kind of system to bring
about world trade and commerce among themselves. No nation, especially
in Europe, can exist independently. Our nation did exist very much independently
for a long time; not having to depend too much on the rest of the world
for anything. However, as we see the world moving toward the hour of time
when the beast of Revelation 13, is definitely going to come to the forefront,
and prophecy once again set in motion, you can rest assured, this nation
will never again be like it was back then. The hand of God is striking
every nation in one way or another, getting things in line for the end
time wind up. As He breaks down the great Communistic empire, this religious
element that has preached Communism as the antichrist for the last forty
years, is going to have to look for something to take its place. This
does not end Communism. It just ends its existence as a major, world,
influential ideology. The end of Communism will definitely be God's judgment,
when the time is right. First, things must be put first though; so Ezekiel
38 will have to be fulfilled before some of these other things come about.
Until then, Russia will go on being Russia. She will no doubt have her
internal problems, for we see it already going on, but that in no way
keeps her from playing her role in the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38. We just
have to realize, for such a long time now, many people have thought the
Ezekiel 38 fulfillment would be masses of Russian troops coming to the
Holy Land to be destroyed, but let us read it again. Yes I say, Let us
read it again! Look at the nations that will be aligned with her for that
hour. Libya is one. Just think of Khadafy. He has an army of Russian equipment,
rockets, paratroopers and so forth, just clawing the earth, awaiting an
hour that they can carry out his mischievous goal. Then there is Ethiopia.
As Haile Selassie and his old monarchy fell a few years back, it brought
in a Marxist government to take over. Now Ethiopia has the largest Russian
equipped army in the Middle East. Yet according to the Jerusalem Post,
Ethiopia is wanting to carry on certain types of trade in an agricultural
way, because they have suffered severely from droughts in the last few
years. You have seen on the News how Chad, eastern Kenya, and Ethiopia
have suffered from these massive droughts. Hundreds and thousands of people
have died. Ethiopia has tried to increase its agricultural potential,
but it is still not able to meet the needs of the people. More than 15,000
Jews of the lost tribe of Dan are there yet, according to estimates. Now
Ethiopia has agreed to let them go, if Israel will help them with technology
in the agricultural realm. Israel will do that. She has already started
to do it. Will that keep Ethiopia from playing her part in Ezekiel 38?
Not at all. The hand of God just moves these things back to get His complete
picture filled in. The middle East is being gradually brought into position
for an eventual chaotic blow of some kind. As the Communistic world began
to fall, Russia and these other nations willingly agreed with Israel to
begin a process of letting the Jews of their territories go home. Israel
has been sending their people into Russia to fill out the applications
for the Russian Jews, trying to figure out how many really are wanting
to come home to the land of their forefathers. Hundreds, even thousands,
are desiring to go. It is even estimated that as many as a million of
them will be brought back within the next 5 years. I will read part of
an article I have, which was taken from the Jerusalem Post, because it
fits right into our message as we try to look at all of this for the future.
We know that America has the largest Jewish community in the world. I
think the last estimate was somewhere around 7 million. They are the Wall
Street type that really have no reason to leave America. Here is what
this article says. "With the American Jewish community leadership
readying itself to raise 420 million in 3 years for Soviet immigrant absorption
in Israel, there were doubts about the prospect of any sizable grant from
the U.S. administration. (Here is why it states that.) A statement
last week by Prime Minister Shamir that immigration figures that large,
will require that Israel be large as well, caused consternation in Washington."
Notice how the Western nations jump to conclusions. We need to realize
that in the six day war of 1967, Israel succeeded in taking a certain
amount of territory reaching all the way to the Jordan River. All of that
is now called the West Bank. The Jordan River flows below sea level and
the mountain regions lead to it. That is why it is called the West Bank.
The Russians and the Arabs, as well as a lot of others, do not want Israel
to occupy that west bank area they took. They want them to eventually
give it up to the Palestinian Arabs. However, since the six day war, Israel
has slowly moved out into those areas and rebuilt ancient villages right
where the ruins of the old ones were,when the people were taken out of
there captive, 2000, and 3000 years ago. The Arabs in there, as well as
Russia, know if Israel holds all that land, unwilling to give it up, they
have no other alternative but to shut the door and say, We will not let
these Jews leave. In other words, you have got to work with us. "The
United Jewish appeals tentative new goals supersedes an earlier commitment
of 350 million over five years. The campaign is to be called Operation
Exodus, and is part of a world wide effort to raise six hundred million
in the coming three years. The fund raising drive parallels an approach
to secure additional U.S. governmental aid; and Senator Daniel of Hawaii
is considering a proposal for a one time five hundred million grant to
help Israel absorb the up to one hundred thousand Soviet immigrants expected
this year. Informed sources say this will be extremely difficult due to
the budget cutting mood in Washington."
SEALING OF 144,000 SERVANTS OF GOD
In Revelation, chapter 7, we will read a few verses that show where the
144,000 men seen in chapter 14, following the Lamb, actually come from.
The little chart we are using to call attention to the setting in Revelation
14, would not mean much to anyone if it could not be established where
such a picture originated. Let me say to you who will never see the chart:
It is meant to illustrate the scene chapter 14 opens with, where it speaks
of a Lamb (We all know who the Lamb points to. It portrays Jesus the Christ,
who is also pronounced in the Bible to be the Lamb of God.) standing
on mount Sion with a great host of men standing with Him, having His Father's
name written in their foreheads, and three angels seen flying in the heavens.
Let us read in chapter 7, where we will see who these men are and where
they will come from. (7:1) "And after these things I saw four
angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds
of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea,
nor on any tree." This is not the north pole, south pole, eastern
hemisphere and western hemisphere. The four corners of the earth definitely
points to the Middle East. That is where north ends and south begins,
where east ends and west begins. That is where the Bible started and where
history started; and that is where it all cycles around back to at the
end time. Time started in relationship to secular history from the Middle
East, so that is where the four corners of the earth is pictured to be,
if you can follow my thought. There are four angels seen standing there
and another angel flying through the heavens is crying out something to
them. (7:2) "And I saw another angel ascending from the east,
having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the
four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying,
Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed
the servants of our God in their foreheads." Of course we need
to realize that these four angels mentioned here are the same four angels
referred to in the 16th chapter of Revelation, which is the picture of
the Middle East when the week of Daniel is coming to a close. There, one
of the vial angels pours out a vial and it is said that the four angels
that were bound in the Euphrates were loosed. That does not mean they
were bound hand and foot with literal chains lying there in the river
bed. You have to understand the language. They were hindered by this command,
Hold back, don't let the winds blow. Don't create a universal
disturbance "until." When we come to the 16th chapter,
the until has passed. The 144,000 have already been sealed
and they have done their job. We know it also says in the 16th chapter,
in relationship to those four angels, that he saw the Euphrates River
dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. Brothers
and sisters, prophetic events in the world are coming about in such a
way, 20th century Christendom is unaware of what is taking place right
before their very own eyes. I mentioned the article I read in the paper
which stated that the country of Turkey, in the water shed regions of
the Euphrates and Tigress Rivers, has built a dam, and a hydroelectric
dam system, to divert the Euphrates waters into that. I believe the article
stated that it will take about two years to eventually fill this giant
lake to capacity. I think it said they would only do this for about two
months, and then they would start releasing. It said in the article that
they have already suffered a drought situation for seven years, causing
the Euphrates to flow at a very low level. Then, when you put a man made
contraption like that across it to control the flow, to generate electricity,
what do you think that does to the areas, the villages and cities below?
In ancient times it was a fact, the Euphrates, at certain times of the
year, in many places was impassable by an army of ancient means; which
was horses, ox drawn carts, and such like. Therefore, it served as a barrier
for world empires. However, in this 20th century, we know there are no
such barriers to modern warfare. The river takes on a symbolism here,
a sign to take note of, as other things develop. There definitely will
be a fulfillment of this setting in the oncoming years. Whether it is
eight, ten, twelve, or fifteen years in the future, the Euphrates will
gradually come under the fulfillment of this prophecy. It will no longer
be a barrier at any time of the year. Therefore, becoming a sign that
when Revelation 16, at the end of the week of Daniel has fulfilled its
course, there will be a war in the Middle East called Armageddon. Almost
everyone anymore, will speak of this war, no matter where they stand spiritually.
Let us read one more verse here in chapter 7, because time wise, this
lets us see where we are since God is leading this element of Jews back
into the land of Israel, that He may have a full representation of all
twelve tribes back there when it is time for this next verse to actually
be fulfilled. (7:4) "And I heard the number of them which were
sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand
of all the tribes of the children of Israel." When WW2 came
to a close, it was basically the two southern tribes that occupied that
certain territory allotted to them that came back to the land out of Europe.
In the prophecies, God said He would bring Judah home and save her first.
Why? To use her as the beginning of the restructuring and rebuilding of
the nation of Israel, to fulfill prophecy. Then He would come on and save
Joseph. You will remember that Joseph is one of the names, along with
Ephraim, that the ten tribes of the north were known by. Therefore, after
forty years of regathering, basically and primarily the two southern tribes
that went by the name Judah, it is time for the other ten tribes to be
brought back to the land for the end time wind up. Judah in the south
stands out predominately because that is where the old city Jerusalem
is. That is why it stands out in the problems of the world today. We know
once Judah has established herself and the nation, the territories, to
begin the fulfillment of prophecy, before this 7th chapter can come into
play, there will have to be a sufficient representation of all the other
ten tribes gathered from the ends of the earth, back into the land of
their forefathers. That is precisely what is going on right now. It is
God's hour for the ten tribes to come home, and they will not be forty
years coming home, like Judah was forty years getting home and getting
established, and growing in population. I believe their population is
now running about 3.1 or 3.2 million Jews. That is not counting the Palestinian
Arabs within the same territory. They are the ones causing the Jews all
that trouble the News people are always speaking of. These other Jews
are in the plan, but they did not have to come home and work to build
cities, houses, and so forth. There is that urgent need to build houses
to house these Jews that are coming back now, but we need not feel frustration
in the matter. God is bringing them home to get them back there and get
them ready for their end time role, because Gentile time is running out.
As I see this beginning to take shape right in front of us, I do not believe
we Gentiles have another twenty five years to make up our minds, Am I
going to be a Christian or not?. We Gentiles have had the gospel for 1900
years; but you rest assured, The Jews will not be brought back to their
homeland to mill around there a hundred years before God does something
for them. Prophetic wise, as we look at the Middle East, the buildup of
all this tension and pressure, something will eventually blow. When it
does, it is going to bring an earth shaking situation that will supersede
anything the world has ever known before. They have had wars before, but
none of them were the one this scripture is alluding to. The Arab nations
keep massing their armament for an eventual onslaught that one day will
have to be fulfilled. It all goes with this end time picture. With that
in mind, as we continue with this thought, we will move out of the 7th
chapter; and get to the 14th. Since the title of this message is The
Everlasting Gospel, we must go to Revelation 14:6 to show why we would
give it such a title, but before that particular verse can be fulfilled,
those verses we have already looked at in chapter 7, will have to come
into fulfillment. That of course is when the 144,000 servants of God receive
the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the revelation of Jesus Christ. We know
the seal they receive is the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and we find out
from chapter 14, the rest of what they have received. Let us just go ahead
and read the first 7 verses of chapter 14, before we say anything else,
and you will be better able to understand the entire picture that is portrayed
there. "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion,
(That could be none other than Jesus the Christ who was offered at Calvary
as a Lamb without blemish, for the sins of lost mankind.) and with
Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written
in their foreheads. (This shows they have a revelation of who
Jesus is.) And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the
throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn
that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed
from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for
they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He
goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto
God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are
without fault before the throne of God. And I saw another angel fly in
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto
them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue,
and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him;
for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven,
and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Another
thing we must be conscious of is the fact that the Jews who are to receive
this seal, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, must be there in the land of
Israel. They cannot receive it while in Russia, nor Pakistan, nor anywhere
else except there in the land of their father's. They have got to be in
the land of Israel. That lets us know why there is such a great move all
of a sudden for Jews to return to Israel out of dispersion. It tells us
plainly that there will be 144,000 of them sealed with this seal; twelve
thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. That never could have
been fulfilled without something first causing those Jews from the ten
Northern tribes to return to their home land. Until recently, the Jewish
population in the land were mainly from the two Southern tribes called
by the name Judah. Of course when you get to chapter 14, you have moved
through time, for this picks up in the last three and one half years of
the seventieth week of Daniel's prophetic week. In the first half of that
week of years, the two prophets of Revelation 11 will come on the scene,
and from all the representative tribes of Israel, this 144,000 servants
of God will be sealed through their ministry. God will no longer be dealing
with Gentiles to save them. Their dispensation of grace will be over,
and as far as salvation, the Spirit of God will be dealing strictly with
Jews. These two prophets (you can read about them in chapter 11) have
one particular responsibility. Their first and foremost objective is to
preach and prophesy a message to Israel that will cause 144,000 Jewish
men to receive this same revelation they have, as well as the seal, which
is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. After these two prophets have prophesied
and preached for three and one half years, then we know from other scriptures
that in the middle of that seven year week of time, the antichrist, the
beast that rises up in Europe, shown in Revelation 13, will come into
Israel. He will break that peace covenant he has made with many nations
three and a half years earlier and will go on a rampage persecuting and
slaughtering Jews. That is why I started out by mentioning the break up
of Yugoslavia. You may say, What does this have to do with the geographical
territory? Keep in mind, That is all in eastern Europe, but that was the
ancient area of the third world empire. All of those areas of the ancient
world empires, the Babylonians, the Medo Persians, then the Grecians;
but the ten horn area is western Europe. Greece has been in the European
Common Market for quite awhile, but she is not one of the horns. She is
that portion of the geographical territory, you might say, that makes
up the neck connection, whereby it extends on back through the Medo Persian
territory into Babylon. Because when you read about the beast of Revelation
13, it has the representation of all three empires preceding the Roman
Empire. It has the feet of a bear, the mouth of a lion, and the body of
a leopard. That was the Grecian Empire, which under Alexander the Great,
was the land of Macedonia.
GOD HIMSELF SETS ALL THINGS IN THEIR PROPER ORDER
God Himself shapes these geographical areas for every hour of time. He
is the master designer and fulfiller of world prophecy. Therefore, as
we read Revelation 14, just remember, The time has come for the last half
of Daniel's week to be fulfilled; so the Grace Age Bride of Christ has
already gone to glory. Do not forget that. She has already been taken
in what we commonly refer to as "The rapture of the Church."
The middle of the week has come, the antichrist has entered Jerusalem
with his international police force. He has taken control of Jerusalem.
He has killed the two prophets and has set himself up in the restored
temple that has (at that time) been built for the Messiah. He sets himself
up in it and says to the world, You will worship me as God. In
his 2nd letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul wrote of this, no
doubt taking his revelation from the 11th chapter of Daniel where it is
laid out so completely. Concerning the rapture, (or the gathering together
unto Christ of the Church) he said this, "Let no man deceive you
by any means: for that day shall not come, except (or
until) there come a falling away first, and that man of sin (the
Antichrist) be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so
that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that
he is God." When the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church does
all that he will have to do to fulfill that scripture, he will also have
the two prophets of Revelation 11, killed; and that moves time to the
point where chapter 14, which we have already read 7 verses of, is ready
to be fulfilled. Therefore the 144,000 men shown following the Lamb, (which
is what we have tried to show in the little chart we have on the wall
back here), are not to be thought of as a literal scene that will be viewed
in the land of Israel in that hour. This is all symbolic. We all know
who the Lamb represents symbolically, and the fact that they are seen
in verse 4 following the Lamb wheresoever He goeth, is just God's way
of having John write it so we could get the revelation that they are to
be led entirely by the Spirit of Jesus Christ (the sacrificial
Lamb of God) which they have been sealed with. "And I looked,
and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, (That is where the city of
Jerusalem is built.) and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand,
having His Father's name written in their foreheads." These are
the first fruits of the Jewish conversion that comes out of the preaching
and prophesying of those two prophets. Many of them will be from among
that great mass of immigrants coming back from the nations of the world.
As I have already stated, That is why they have to be back there. This
prophesy could not be fulfilled while the ten Northern tribes were scattered
to the four winds of the earth. Think of this though, "having
His Father's name written in their foreheads." The name of the
Lamb's Father written in their foreheads leaves a lot of people scratching
their heads, because they do not know what the name of the Lamb's Father
is. You will never know what His name is as long as you believe this sovereign
God is three persons. Saints: The name JESUS itself, is the name
of God. It is the name given to the little baby born of virgin birth to
a young lady in Israel more than 1900 years ago. An angel of the Lord
was sent to tell them to give Him that name, and it was for a very specific
reason. The Hebrew equivalent of that name is Joshua, and that is the
redemption name of the Father. That is why Jesus would say, I am come
in my Father's name. (John 5:43) "I am come in my Father's name,
and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will
receive." That was a reference to the Antichrist, who will truly
come in his own name. (John 17:6) "I have manifested thy name
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and
thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word." Listen to
this, (John 10:25) "Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed
not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me."
What other name did Jesus ever mention? You have to know the name of the
Father in order to fulfill Matthew 28:19, that so many people are hung
up on. Jesus did not go around saying, The name of my father is JESUS.
He left that for the Holy Ghost to reveal to the true seed of God scattered
out here in the world. I will just have to explain it this way; Jesus
is the Greek word we use, but the Hebrew word was Joshua. There was no
word in the English language that could have been used, so they used the
Greek name. However, we are not arguing about what His name is. This is
just to clarify what we read from Rev.14:1 for the benefit of those who
might not know already. We have a lot of Gentile people today getting
carried off into extremes. As God revealed Himself in the Old Testament,
I have no doubt in my mind that Jehovah (as it is spelled in the King
James translation of the Bible) was the name. In the Hebrew it was Yahweh.
That is why some of these Gentiles that are preaching Yahweh, are trying
to convince us that we are pagans simply because we will not use that
true name of God. At least that is what they say. I have no intention
of using any other name than the one our English language gives us. Now
let me give an illustration of what I am looking at. I was not born to
speak Hebrew, neither were any of you sitting here. I am just a descendant
of those people in Babylon a few thousand years ago that God confused
their language one night, but we are an English speaking people. We relate
ourselves in communication by our English language. Therefore, let me
just say this; When people want to debate an issue like this, here is
what it comes down to: If I would go to that, then I had better learn
to start preaching and communicating in Hebrew. If I am speaking a language
that is pagan, I will have to change more than just the name of God in
my present vocabulary in order to be right. However, I want you to know,
The English language is not pagan. My ancestors, in their spiritual makeup,
were pagans, but that does not make the English language pagan. Why do
I say that? Because the language came from God, not the devil. Let me
use another illustration of what I mean. My English name is Raymond. In
Spanish it is Ramon, and in Hebrew it is Reuben; but do not call me Reuben
because Reuben defiled his father's bed. I hope you know what I mean.
You find a lot of Gentiles that can go side ways and backward, but not
forward. They will play with one word for forty years and never go anywhere
with God. Therefore, when these 144,000 servants of God get the seal and
the name of the Lamb's Father, here is how we have to understand that
in the light of the scriptures. We are going to explain it in our English
language. When it is written in our New Testament that the baby conceived
in the womb of that virgin was called Jesus, because they were told by
the angel of the Lord that His name shall be called Jesus, what
more is there to say about it when you know the name of the Father is
the same as the Son? To compare the name Jesus with the Joshua of the
Hebrew, it simply means, He will save His people, or Jehovah Savior. I
want you to realize, there were other Jewish children born in that same
period of time who were also named Joshua, or Jesus; but did that mean
their name meant Jehovah Savior? Or He will save his people? No. They
were not Jesus the Christ. The name Jesus, or Joshua, which ever you may
call it, was given to the child to be identified by in that Jewish society;
and the man Himself was not Jesus the Christ until He was incarnated by
that Spirit which is the Father, there at the Jordan river at age 30.
At 30 years of age, the Son that was begotten of God and born into this
world from the womb of a young virgin, went to the Jordan River to be
baptized by John the Baptist. When John baptized Him, the heavens were
opened unto Him and the Eternal Spirit descended in a bodily form like
unto a dove and rested upon Him. No, it was not a literal bird. It was
a manifestation of the great eternal Spirit, the Creator that had begotten
Him by His own word. The Spirit that was symbolized by that dove went
on into the person of the man called Jesus. In other words, God entered
His Son in the fullness of all of His divine attributes, or qualities.
The whole headship of God, with all of His divine attributes, was literally
expressed in and through Him. God was concealed in His Son, but that same
God was also revealed through the Son. God is dwelling in the person of
a man, and the man He is dwelling in became the Anointed One of God because
of it. He was not the Anointed One before the incarnation. However, being
the Anointed One, He was moved to reveal that redemptive name of Jehovah.
It has been Jehovah in Him, saving His people, ever since that hour. That
is why Jesus said in St. John 5, "I am come in my Father's name."
Here is how we have to understand it. That is the family name that God,
the Eternal Spirit, the Creator, the one doing the redeeming by and through
His begotten Son, is called by. Jesus is His family name; just as we have
our earthly family names. Whatever your name is, that is your family name;
but it did not start with you. You can no doubt go back several years
with it. Yes, this Jesus we preach about is Jesus the Christ because of
the anointing Spirit of the Father dwelling in Him. If the anointing had
not come upon, and in Him, He would have just simply gone on through life
being known by the name Jesus, just as other Jews have; but He never would
have been called Jesus the Christ, the begotten Son of God. It
was the anointing that made the name Jesus begin to take on the twofold
meaning.
A GREAT MULTITUDE FOLLOWING A LAMB
Turning our attention back to the 144,000 men John saw standing on mount
Zion with the Lamb, we need to remember this: These men have received
this wonderful revelation of Jesus Christ through the preaching and
prophesying of the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3 sometime during
the first 3 1/2 years of that last week of Daniel's 70 weeks prophesied
to Israel centuries ago. Notice, "And I will give power unto
my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred
and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth." Brother, I
want you to know, Those two Jews will not be running around Israel telling
Bible stories just for the sake of talking about the Bible. Any Bible
story they tell will be for the sake of vindicating their revelation
concerning the Jew's messiah and the things that are shortly to come
upon the nation of Israel. They will have a genuine revelation of who
Jesus the Christ, that their father's crucified, really is; and they
will know by then why He was rejected by them. It was so we Gentiles
could be included in this wonderful plan of salvation God has worked
out so perfectly. Their very own testimony to that nation is what accounts
for the 144,000 men being sealed and revelated. Notice verse 1, again,
for emphasis upon the Lamb's Father's name written in their foreheads.
"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion,
and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's
name written in their foreheads." When will that scene
John saw in the Spirit more than 1900 years ago become literal upon
earth? Their ministry will start exactly in the middle of that 70th
week of Daniel when the old pope breaks the covenant of peace he has
been made custodian over, and starts to persecute Jews. The two prophets
themselves will be his first targets, because their preaching and prophesying
will have made his life a living hell on earth. Not only will they be
revealing to their Jewish brethren who the Messiah is, they will also
be revealing to them the true identity of the Antichrist, who has sat
at the head of this false church for centuries. They will tell them
what is ahead for Israel, because of what the Bible says he (the Antichrist)
will do in that last 3 1/2 years of time. Therefore, as this scene begins
to unfold, the middle of the week has come, the two prophets are
dead, and this 144,000 are positioned, spiritually, not geographically,
ready to flee into the nations of the world to fulfill their calling.
That brings us to verse 2, so let us read it. (14:2) "And I
heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice
of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their
harps." Oh, I tell you saints, these Church of Christ people
that have carried on so about others having music in their assemblies
are going to have something to talk about for sure when this scene becomes
known to them. They fuss and they preach, and they argue and they harp
about a lot of things, but they harp without any harps. I am not making
fun of them. I am just stating a known fact about them. The first time
I was ever baptized was in a Church of Christ church. I just simply
did not know any better. I have heard them sing from time to time, and
much of their singing is enjoyable to listen to, especially to people
who do not know how they feel about music in the church. They cannot
see musical instruments in the New Testament writings, so they will
have none of it. Well I say, They should have gone to the book of Revelation.
"And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps."
This is not just a bunch up there harping for no reason. They are singing!
Praise God! Listen to this. (14:3) "And they sung as it were
a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and
the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty
and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." All
of this has accomplished its first purpose. There they stand. Spiritually,
they have a revelation. They know exactly where the Spirit of God has
been through all the centuries past, while the Jews have been in dispersion.
The Jews today still do not understand why we Gentiles accepted Jesus
Christ as the Jewish Messiah. They do not see how such a thing could
have any merit. They do not understand it now, but they will then. We
always need to keep in mind, blindness in part has happened to them
until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. That means, Until every
predestined Gentile foreknown by the Father to accept Jesus Christ as
his or her personal Savior and Lord has had their chance to respond
to His wooing, the fullness of the Gentiles has not come in. I personally
feel that we are just about there, and that the last one shall soon
be dealt with. If so, that means time is running out for us. God does
not deal with Jews and Gentiles both at the same time, except in the
lives of individuals. Therefore, He is getting the stage set to withdraw
His convicting Spirit from the Gentiles that have had it for almost
two thousand years and return to the Jews in the nation of Israel where
the whole gospel story originated. Whatever is left for Gentiles to
do, will no doubt be a quick work. Their (the Jew's) picture is going
to come into focus pretty soon.
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