Watching God and Watching Men
16/07/06 13:49
“When
you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you
will know that its desolation is
near...” Jesus
spoke these words to His disciples just prior to His
death and resurrection. It is a prophecy concerning
the last days of, not only the first century, but
also, of the end of the age. We are in that age right
now! Although no man knows the day or hour of
Jesus’ return, the apostle Paul gives us hope
within a warning that we should be alert and
self-controlled, for we are not of those who are in
darkness that this time should take us by surprise.
Beloved, I am not in any way setting a day or hour of
the return of Jesus Christ but I am saying that the
time is very near. As we have heard in the news these
last few days, the Middle East is becoming a war zone
of possible Biblical proportions. Coalition armies
are surrounding the area. We have troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan fighting already. Israel is fighting with
Hamas on its western border and Hezbollah on its
northern border. Rumor has it that Iran and Syria are
behind the instigation of the Hezbollah. Whatever the
case, the nation of Israel is being surrounded by
armies and this is exactly what Jesus said would
happen just before His return. This is not the
gathering of nations for Armageddon, I repeat; this
is not the gathering of nations for that final
conflict that ushers in the last millennium. Rather,
this is possibly the war spoken of by the prophet
Ezekiel in chapter 39. If this is true then it will
be the Antichrist that will bring peace (a false
peace) to the area for seven years. This seven years
correlates directly with the last seven years of the
gentile age known as the Great Tribulation. In the
last twenty years I truly believed that Jesus could
have come at any time to rapture His church into the
heavens to be with Him. I believe that this time,
where we are at geo-politically, technologically and
spiritually, the world is ready for the Antichrist
and the Church is ready for Jesus Christ! Beloved, we
should remember what Jesus warned when He
said, “Be
always on the watch and pray that you may be able to
escape all that is about to happen and that you may
be able to stand before the Son of
Man.” As we
watch God fulfill His Word we should also watch our
fellow man as well. We should watch our lives
closely, (1Tim.4:16)
and we
should also be watchmen on the walls
(Isaiah
52:8-10) of
history. “Listen!
Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they
shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they
will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of
joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord
has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of
the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.”
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