Even as we write this post, the rumblings of war pound the middle east. But this is just the beginning. Is a gigantic war based in that very area predicted? If so, by whom and from where? From the Word that does not lie nor disappoint. The Word that reveals secrets. Let us look at what God’s word says about the soon to come war that will usher in His pre-millennial kingdom.
Many of us as Bible students have come to believe that the great “Armageddon” of Scripture portrays a last day gigantic war. A war that will end upon the Lord coming in the clouds. But is this really what the Scriptures tell us? Or has Satan and his henchmen pulled one of their vast interpretation tricks? Used men for private interpretation? To throw us off, having us look left when we should be looking right?
God’s word will shed light upon where, how and when this “last day’s” war will happen. The whole reason for Scripture is to prepare us. Let us know what shall be and how we can be fitted to meet the Lord and be forever with Him. This war study is one of the most important. May you be enlightened and thus prepared.
“(1) Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; (2) Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you.
(3) Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger. (4) For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
(5) Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.” (Zeph. 2:1-5)
Let us see what the Elijah prophet says concerning these verses.
What makes this nation gather together? — Certainly not the decree and not the Lord’s anger, for these are to come upon her after she gathers together. The “decree” certainly cannot be the beast’s decree, for there is not even a thought in the scripture that would so indicate; but it certainly points out that the decree is none other than the Lord’s decree — the fierce anger of the Lord in the day that passes as chaff.
According to the verse that follows, this undesirable nation’s gathering together, is a sign post to God’s people, urging them to continue seeking Him so much the more..
When this Judgment-bound nation begins to gather together then it is, if never before, that the meek of the earth need to seek meekness.
The meek of the earth are those who have wrought the Lord’s judgments, who have proclaimed the message of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. They are His people, His church. The nation that is not desired, therefore, is one people, and the meek of the earth, the church, those who are hid in the day of the Lord’s anger are another people. The one is gathering together, the other is seeking meekness. Definitely, then, the “nation” of verses 1 and 2 is not His church, but the people of verse three are His people, His church. (Timely Greetings, vol. 1, no. 22, p. 24-25)
So we see that the gathering of the people of Israel is a direct fulfillment of the end time prophecy. But the purpose is going to be for the Lord’s purpose not mere humans who now think that the land of Israel will continue to be a land run predominantly by the un-believing Abraham descendants. No, the Lord is setting up HIS OWN PLAN.
Let us continue with the prophet’s words.
…two truths stand out clearly: (1) that in vain the Jews seek to establish themselves in the Promised Land; (2) that we who are bearing the message of the great and dreadful day of the Lord are counselled to seek meekness and righteousness, for thus only shall we “be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger,” that is, merely bear knowledge of the message will not save us, there should be corresponding deeds with it.
Let us now connect verse 3 with verses 6 and 7, the verses that are applicable to the people of God, the meek.
Zeph. 2:3, 6, 7 — “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger…. And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.”
Now, the fact that the Lord is to destroy all the inhabitants in the land of the Philistines (Zeph. 2:5), and at the same time make it dwellings for “shepherds, and folds for flocks,” shows that He is first to drive out of the land all the wicked, all those who are not seeking meekness, then He is to set up the “house of Judah” in it.
Zeph. 2:8 — “I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached My people, and magnified themselves against their border.”
Not only the unbelieving Jews, but also the unbelieving Arabs who resist the meek, are to be swept away from the land.
Zeph. 2:9 — “Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of My people shall spoil them, and the remnant of My people shall possess them.”
While Moab and Ammon become as Sodom and Gomorrah, go out of existence, the captivity of God’s people is turned away. They become an independent nation and possess all the wealth of the people round about.
Zeph. 2:10, 11 — “This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. The Lord will be terrible unto them: for He will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.”
Zeph. 2:12, 13 — “Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by My sword. And He will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.”
Zeph. 2:14 — “And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her [in Nineveh], all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for He shall uncover the cedar work.”
Who wants to ignore the truth that these conditions are definitely pre-millennial? Moreover, these prophecies show that the renewal of the ancient kingdom of Judah is to be a real thing, not something imaginary. Its subjects are to be real people, not ghosts. Now we can see that the common expression, “going to heaven,” means first going to the Promised Land, there to be fitted for the society of the pure and eternal. (Ibid, p.26-28)
Very soon a middle east country will make a blunder. She will do the unthinkable, yet unbeknownst to that nation, she will be acting out the Lord’s plan. Then this mistake will be the catalyst for the surrounding nations, even the “big boys” –USA, Russia, China, to get involved.
The end of this chaos and bombing will be that the land will be cleared out just as we read above and God’s true servants–the 144,000, shall take up residence there.
In Revelation 14:1 we read, “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.”
After the land is cleared out, the people of God, will stand on mount Sion with our Lord. The Lord is to coordinate this war with His solemn church judgment. The servants then begin to fulfill further prophecy.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.”(Isaiah 11:11)
The purpose of this return is to set up “headquarters” for the last proclamation of the Gospel, known to us Seventh-day Adventists as the “Loud Cry”. Isaiah further illuminates this end time set up.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ” (Isaiah 2:2-4)
As we’ve shown in many previous studies, the “kingdom” will be God’s Theocracy kingdom. Not like the worldly kingdoms we know today (ie. USA, France, Germany Russia, etc.). Also from what we gather from SOP and the Elijah message, the time period will be very short, possibly as short as 2-3 years.
Make no mistake, the pieces are rapidly falling together. Recently in a May 30th article high-lightening an important natural gas alliance between the two nations that will one day oppose the Assyrian nations (white English-speaking countries) in the gigantic middle east war , it said, “In the joint statement issued by China and Russia, the main message is that China-Russia relations have reached a new stage of comprehensive strategic partnership and this will help increase both countries’ international status and influence, thus contributing to a more just international order.”(The Diplomat, May 30, 2014)
Further in the Elijah prophet’s “A Summary Chart of Types” we see that our time is really coming down to the final ticks of the clock before these powerful nations “unload”. We must take heed and know the time of the season prophetically speaking.
Dear brothers and sisters, don’t you want to be a part of this last great work? A time where the Lord’s hand will directly be involved? Finally the great I AM will show Himself. We can be. But what is the cost?
The Lord requires a sell out. That means that we cannot have one foot in the world (partaking in its worldly pleasures and lusts) and the other in the Lord’s work. Isaiah again fills us in on what type of hypocritical Christians there will be in the last days.
“And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.” (Isaiah 4:1)
The Lord is not fooled. He wants His people to “hear His voice” and sin not. We can be victorious over sin when we decide to “follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes”.
This war is very close to happening and once it does, the end of the current world’s structure will change. No longer will the rich billionaires run this world, rather it will be the “little guys and girls”, the humble and sold outs that the Lord will promote. Yes, there will be troubles, but those who put on God’s armor right now will shine forth with His power.
“I heard those clothed with the armor speak forth the truth with great power. It had effect. Many had been bound; some wives by their husbands, and some children by their parents. The honest who had been prevented from hearing the truth now eagerly laid hold upon it. All fear of their relatives was gone, and the truth alone was exalted to them.
They had been hungering and thirsting for truth; it was dearer and more precious than life. I asked what had made this great change. An angel answered, “It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel.”(Early Writings, p.271)
The great and dreadful day of the Lord is so near at hand and Joel describes it beautifully.
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.” (Joel 2:1-3)
The Lord will be with those who really want Him and look forward to being employed in the greatest job ever held by human beings–God’s end time servants. War’s a knockin but God’s people will be the victors.
“And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.” (Amos 9:14-15)
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December 21, 2019 at 8:56 am |
Please note: high-lightening-> highlighting