We are in the time of the separation of the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, believers from scorners. The scorners: Never before did we witness such vitriol from "believers" as those who lashed out in hateful words and name-calling toward those who were watching the significance of the Revelation 12 sign and the four blood moons. It would be hard to believe that those filled with sarcasm and hatefulness are actually believers. Clearly, they are of a different spirit. Friends, we are still watching! We didn't put that constellation there, God did. So we were at liberty to ask, "what are you signaling, Lord?" Is he signaling us with a sign right out of the Book of Revelation but forbidding us to look closely and maybe discern what it means? Wouldn't that be ridiculous? He put the sign there but wanted us to ignore it? OF COURSE NOT. So we looked closely and delved into what it might mean. It's a picture of a woman clothed with the sun, the moon at her feet, with 12 stars above her head, and she's crying out in labor. Most people who have put God's Word into their hearts and are familiar with it, correctly discerned that this sign was signaling the coming of the beginning of the Tribulation, the horrendous time that will come upon the earth after the church age. It will be seven years of terrible suffering that will end with the second coming of Jesus Christ to this earth, when he will destroy all evil and remove Satan from his position of power over God's creation. The Tribulation will be "the time of Jacob's trouble." Alas! For that day is great,
so that none is like it;
and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble,
but he shall be saved out of it.
Jeremiah 30:7 During the Tribulation the Jews will come to realize that Jesus is the Messiah, and Israel will be saved. It's the picture of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers who had rejected him, (Genesis 45). Jesus will return at the end of the Tribulation and take up his Throne to reign from Jerusalem over all the earth. Why is there so much vitriol against Jerusalem in our newspapers and on our tv screens? It's because Jerusalem is the city of God, the place in Israel where he has put his Name and from which he will reign over this earth when he comes. Jesus is a Jew and will return as a Jew, to Jerusalem. That's why the world hates the fact that Jerusalem is Jewish - it's a Satanic-inspired hatred. Here in the Revelation sign is where the trouble begins for believers: Believers know that the Rapture takes place BEFORE the beginning of the Tribulation, and that's why, when looking at this sign foretelling the Tribulation, believers hope that the Rapture will happen soon because it happens before the Tribulation begins. Is that foolishness? To recognize God's signal and hope for a soon fulfillment of what HE placed there FOR US, does that deserve hate-filled mockery to us who believe this way? No. It's a separation. Not a separation between those who understand the sign and those who are skeptical, no, it's a separation between those who are believers and those who are mockers. Believers don't mock. We can disagree on just about any non-essential doctrine and agree to disagree. I disagree with many on many points, but I have not mocked them, called them names, or hurled sarcasm at them. Believers filled with the Spirit of God just don't do that, because that kind of thing does not come from the Holy Spirit, but from a very different spirit. Back to the sign… The sign in the constellation was showing the beginning of the Tribulation, when the woman cries out in the pain of labor. It is a sure sign, a clear sign, and a sign put there by God himself, so call me what you may – I have not forgotten the sign and what it signifies because God has let us know that the time is near. When I’m traveling on I-95 and see the sign for Freeport, I know we’re NEAR Portland. It’s a sign of what we're nearing. If God is showing us something, we'd better be paying attention. It's not astrology, as some accused us of. It is hugely important to understand that astrology is the COUNTERFEIT of God's message in the constellations. The Gospel IS written in the constellations. God himself said the constellations are for SIGNS. "Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them be for SIGNS and for appointed times, and for days and years;" Genesis 1:14 Noah built an ark for the safety of his family. Scripture says that he was a "preacher of righteousness." For as long as it took him to build the ark, he warned the people. But no one listened. Then it began to rain. And they perished. Jesus said the last days would be "as in the days of Noah" (Matthew 24:37). So what was the attitude of the people in Noah's day? They laughed at him. "You're building a WHAT? It doesn't even rain here and you're building a boat?" And laugh they did. And they perished. All of them. Only eight people, Noah and his family, remained on the earth. The Tribulation will have a similar impact on the population of the earth. The "New World Order" guideline is to reduce earth's population from several billion, to 500 million. They shouldn't worry ...God himself is going to do even more. All the wicked will be destroyed. All of them. There is a separation. Believers from mockers. Believers need to be allowed to discuss the times among themselves without having to be assaulted with name-calling. The world lobs mockery at us when we simply quote God's Word on any of the issues of our day, as though we wrote the Book. We didn't. God did. His Word stands. We only quote it. Many people have forgotten about the Revelation 12 sign, and they’ve forgotten that in that same period God put four “blood moons,” to verify the sign. Four lunar eclipses that took place on, AND ONLY ON, Biblical feast days. Passover and Tabernacles the first time, then repeated on Passover and Tabernacles the following year. When God repeats something, pay attention. It's important. Anyone is a fool who forgets what God placed before our eyes. I haven’t forgotten. Have you? MORE:
"And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, 'Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.'” 2nd Kings 5:10 The context: A man from Syria came to Elisha the prophet seeking to be healed of leprosy. Elisha told him to go wash in the Jordan river seven times and he'd be healed. But the man turned away very angry, asking his servants why he should have to do this ridiculous thing, why did it have to be the Jordan, couldn't he wash in the rivers in the area where he lived? He was ranting and raving, he was indignant that the prophet would tell him to do such a "foolish" thing. It made absolutely no sense to him, and he turned away and started back home. But one of his servants reasoned with him saying that if Elisha had asked some great thing for him to do to be cleansed, wouldn't he do it? So what's the big deal? Just do it, do what the man of God said. So he conceded, and went and did as Elisha had said ...and he was healed. Then from the demonstration of the power of God when he realized he was healed, the man was astounded and he said that the God of Israel is the true God. He made a vow that day that he would turn from all other gods and worship only the Lord God of Israel. vs 17: "...for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord." The point of this story is that obedience is such a powerful thing before God that it will change things completely. The test of obedience will oftentimes be something the Lord demands which may seem to make absolutely no sense at all. Dip in the Jordan seven times? Are you kidding, Lord??? If you have a problem and bring it to the Lord, listen carefully to his instruction. If he tells you to do something unusual, just do it. Be sure of what he's telling you, don't let Satan play with your mind. But when you're sure, just do it. One time the Lord asked me to go to someone and ask forgiveness of him. My reaction was, "Me??? HE is the one who should be asking ME for forgiveness." It made no sense to me. But I had walked with the Lord long enough to understand that his ways are not our ways, and that obedience will change things. I went and asked forgiveness. And that brought HIM to repentance, and the problem was healed. In 1st Samuel chapter 15 we see the prophet bringing to King Saul the order from the Lord to attack and destroy the Amalekites, leaving nothing alive. The Amalekites were a hybrid giant race, demoniacs among the peoples of the land of Canaan and God intended to remove them. So ...Saul attacked and destroyed them ... BUT ... he took the King of the Amalekites alive, and he took the best of their sheep "to sacrifice to the Lord your God." For that ...he lost the kingship. He lost it because he didn't follow the entirety of the Lord's command. vs 23: "Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king.” Attention to detail is very important. If he tells the king to destroy all, he means all. Saul destroyed all ...EXCEPT the Amalekite king. And he lost the kingdom because of it. The ways of the Lord are higher than ours, different from ours, and that's why we must follow his directions to the letter. If he tells you to dunk yourself in the river 7 times, do it. Ask for confirmation, and when you're sure, just do it. He has purpose in what he says to you. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9
"WHEN the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory." Psalm 102:15 The appearance of the Lord in his glory is tied to the generation that sees the signal, that sees the Lord building up Zion, another name for Israel. Since the year 70 AD the nation of Israel was in judgment, banished from their ancient homeland as God had warned so many times, scattered across the whole earth. But the end of her long diaspora came in 1948. On the 14th of May, 1948, Israel became a nation again after 2,000 years of being cut off from the land of their fathers, the land given to them by covenant from God. Since 1948 God has been restoring the Jews to Israel and has been rebuilding their land, as he promised them. Every kind of threat and interference from hell has tried to stop it, but Israel remains - because it is God who is restoring her. And make no bones about it - the Lord is very aware that he is placing them in the land that is surrounded by large Arab nations who hate her. God is not biting his fingernails over the threats from Hezbollah in the north, Hamas in the south, the "Palestinians" all around her - and Iran behind it all, and he hasn't yet had a panic attack over the threats from Iran and Russia to drive her into the sea. The Great Sign In this Psalm, as in other places in the Bible, we see that WHEN THIS HAPPENS, in the generation in which Israel is restored, it signals the generation in which the Lord shall appear. This is what believers are eagerly watching for now, the appearance of our Savior. It is in this generation that understanding has been given on this subject. Many things that were not understood in past generations have been revealed in this one, because the signal had not been given in past generations, Israel was still scattered, but it HAS been in this one. Israel is back! Since 1948. Sir Isaac Newton prophesied exactly that: “About the time of the end, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation, in the midst of much clamor and opposition.” -Sir Issac Newton This will be written FOR THE LAST GENERATION, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. Psalm 102:18 Hear the prophecy given to the prophet Daniel: "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." Daniel 12:4 How aptly did the Lord signal the generation in which this was to happen, the generation characterized by much TRAVEL everywhere (running to and fro) and a great increase in KNOWLEDGE. A hundred years ago they traveled by horse and buggy. In this generation they've gone to the moon! In this generation our whole lives have been changed by the increase of knowledge and technology, as no generation ever before us. It amazes believers that the world CAN'T see it - that the wicked don't understand it, while it makes perfect sense even to the youngest in the Lord. That prophecy is happening right before our eyes vs 9-10 "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed UNTIL THE TIME OF THE END. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly, AND NONE OF THE WICKED SHALL UNDERSTAND, but the wise shall understand." And so we do understand, even though no other generation before us was given to understand these things. Only in this generation have the prophecies of Daniel and the other prophets been revealed concerning "the last days." For believers it is the time of "the blessed hope," and as we watch the world heading so obviously toward the great Tribulation, we anticipate the trumpet sound - when Jesus Christ will take us out of this world to be with him forever, snatched (harpazo) just before the time when he will pour out his wrath upon the Christ-rejecting world - during the time the Bible calls the "great Tribulation. The signs of it are all here. Even so, COME, Lord Jesus! MORE ON THE RAPTURE