Of War And Of Peace

"And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." Isaiah 37:31-32 Because we see the greatly prophesied last seven years of the age almost upon us, we make great effort to warn people so that they can escape this time which Jesus said will be the worst time that has ever taken place on the earth or ever will be after it. "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be." Matthew 24:21 There are many, many prophecies about this last seven-year period. It will feature a global government, and we see that forming right before our eyes, and it will feature a global religion - which is coming together even now, as the pope of Rome works feverishly to bring all the religions of the world together in one great "ecumenical" movement. All of this will be led under the administration of the man the Bible calls "the Antichrist." There are presently several men on the earth with the right credentials to fulfill this spot, so many speculate who he might be, but Scripture says he will not be revealed until the believers in Jesus Christ have been removed from the earth before the great day of the wrath of God Almighty comes upon the inhabitants of this world. "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And THEN the lawless one will be revealed..." 2 Thessalonians 2:7 The Church, the Body of Christ on the earth, is the restraining force holding back iniquity from fully taking over. But the Lord will remove the church from the earth – and then all restraint will be taken away and iniquity will be able to fully manifest itself. But in our efforts to bring this information to people and hoping to motivate them to seek the one escape God has provided, we tend to be myopic and focus only on the issues presently before us. We need to stand back and open our eyes to see it all in the context of what Bible prophecy has revealed. That seven-year period, as terrible as it will be, will also come to its end, and with it, the Antichrist and Satan himself will come to their end. This will be accomplished by the coming of the Messiah, who ALONE will bring peace and restoration to this broken world. Scripture says that when the world is saying "peace, peace," it is THEN that the destruction will come upon them, and they shall not escape, (1 Thessalonians 5:3). You have to understand why their attempts at peace will never succeed, and that is because the world lies under the reign of Satan (2nd Corinthians 4:4). His goal is to unite the world into one people who will WORSHIP ...HIM ... for this has been Satan's desire from the beginning, that mankind worship him. But in him, there is never peace, for he comes "to steal, to kill, and to destroy" (John 10:10), and throughout the reign of his man the Antichrist, multitudes upon multitudes will die. Read about it in the Book of Revelation. The point is, and all should keep this forever in mind, there will be no peace until "the Prince of Peace" comes, Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel, when he comes at the end of the 7-year Tribulation and brings all evil to a screeching halt. He will destroy the wicked and he will set up his Kingdom upon this earth, reigning from Jerusalem as the Scriptures have so long prophesied. Only then will there be peace on earth. We are told to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. But remember this always, "The peace of Jerusalem is a Person." When he finally comes at the end of that seven-year period, there will be a remnant of people who will have survived the great Tribulation. Many will have heeded the Word of God and fled to what is presently called "Jordan," to a place called Petra where they will be taken care of until the end. Those who don't flee, will perish. But at the end, the true Prince of Peace, Israel's long-awaited Messiah will come to this earth, make an end of the Antichrist and all who followed him, he will bring an end to Satan's final program in which so many suffered and died, and he will restore this earth as it was originally intended to be, as in the days of Eden. The Prince of Peace will bring the nation of Israel to repentance, and they will mourn for having rejected him at his first coming (Zechariah chap 11). The Scriptures will be literally fulfilled. The remnant who survive, small a remnant as it will be, will take root again and bear fruit upward. The nation of Israel will be exalted above all nations and her King will rule over all the earth. There will be no peace until the Prince of Peace comes, for he is the source of peace.