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Final Chapter
Chapter 6
the
first peace
and
SECOND RETURN
Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
Jeremiah 30:6
Before birth, comes travail, and yet . . .
Like a mother who sedates herself, hoping to avoid the birthpangs, is our world approaching the end of the age. Like the baby, in the birth canal, resisting the urge to break out, is the church body of our time. We know the Father and the Son are awaiting us on the other side: "Daddy," Whom we have never seen, awaiting His newborn . . . but, well, we'd prefer the certainty of this warm and cuddly place we live in now -with all its discomfort, pain, crime, sickness, death . . . .(?)
Yet, God is not as we are. He knows the end from the beginning. His ability to tell us the future does not frighten nor surprise Him!! Nor must we forget that He is the God of all grace. Although there appear to be delays, know that:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
II Peter 3:9
Not only so, but one other long awaited event -one which we evangelicals (and Pentecostals) have long thought would take place only after the rapture is about to take place. One of the last, remaining pieces, prior to the unveiling of "Antichrist" is about to emerge.
A revival among the Jews.
Even before we get the chance to witness the Jewish revival, however, prophetic fulfilment continues at a dizzing pace, with our national confusion over right and wrong continuing. Lawlessness, and its escalating love affair with "forbidden fruit," is frightening. Will God really judge us? Does it really matter if we break just one more rule (of homosexuality, for example)? Even the "sinners" are getting disturbed, now, and increasingly jumpy at the thought of no moral absolutes.
Are we a nation, and world, caught between two persuasions -of trying to to get all we can, and can all we get (in the short term) -while desiring a long range goal? Should we settle for a symbollic victory (even in politics) or buckle down and get really serious with God, for His help in the days ahead? Then too, it seems increasingly difficult to keep one's head in the sand. Why, you can't even discipline our own children, anymore, without fear of arrest.
Yesterday . . . it was Bible reading in school, then public prayer, and now . . . private order and discipline, within our own homes. The losses we'd grown accustomed to, in discerning the plastic smiles of those controlling the former "Iron Curtain" are now starting to show up, behind our Secular one, on American soil.
These are serious matters, to say the least, and we really do need to count the cost. Yet, how serious are the consequences, anyway? Surely, things can't get any worst than they already are (can they?!)
Would you faint, if I told you of what is coming -of blood in the streets, and of a society with moraes so twisted and confused, that it will soon equate "doing good" with the "common sense" of cleansing the land of bigots (i.e. Christian fundamentalists) standing in the way of "progress"? -Just after some politician's last stand, and the "Christian Coalitions" find out that God's Kingdom is not of this world?
No, of course not, such could never happen. So, put your head back in the sand, will you??
We are going to learn to wear the sackcloth in Phase II all of us. "Phase I"'s is voluntary. Phase II, will be mandatory. Yet, only those who partake of the "first peace" may make it past the second return, successfully. All others (all those playing with God) will continue to laugh and jest with the clowns of this age, as they refuse to grieve, during Jacob's trouble. After all, that's one of our foremost requirements in modern Christianity: don't let anything disturb you or "get under your skin" (or cause you to grieve -II Pet. 2:7). Sure, but,
Jacob's trouble?
I know, we're not supposed to be here, then. . . . nor, are we supposed to be here, right now! We're not supposed to be witnessing a Mid East peace accord, unfolding. That's post-rapture, and after our escape. That's what we've been telling ourselves for almost 200 years now, since Bible teachers gave up trying to quench old wives's fables (excuse me, old "persons" fables) so that wishing for the future to be, became the prophecy taught to you and me.
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Jeremiah 30:7
"Jacob's trouble" -we've been taught to fear the very sound of the phrase. The verse prior to this one conjurs up the same image (as quoted in our openning) -of men so distressed that they seem pregnant.
Yet, such agony is premature, and does not pay careful enough attention to the way the verse ends, ". . . but he shall be saved out of it."
Get the picture, of a massive troop operation, similar to Operation Desert Storm. The prayer war (air cover) has been active, and now the ground troops must "go over the top." Many civilians are wringing their hands in anxiety. "It will be a blood bath," they warn. -All reminiscent of Calvary, when our Captain had to go it alone:
"You'll be wiped out!"
"Who will carry on, if You die, Jesus?"
Hah! We didn't know that although there would be travail: although Peter denied Him, and although the disciples ran in terror, yet, out of the smoke and distress we were able to be delivered! It is because of His blood, and because He didn't draw back, at the point of travail, that you and I may be born again, by calling on His name. So
Over the top!
We shall be saved out of it. Not from it, mind you, but out of/through it. (Doesn't the verse say he's already in it? Thus, deliverance must take place after having entered travail. -Good news, when you're being pressed to the limit!)
So, it is, with the hour we're approaching. The battle lines are being drawn. Satan's "big bruisers" are readying for a fight, and yet . . . the battle has already been won. We're just going through the scrimmage, to finish the touch down!
Any subject this important is certain to be shared by more than one prophet. Sure enough, Isaiah also joins in with similar intelligence. He intimates that this Kingdom will spread throughout the whole earth, so that,
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:9
Details of this Kingdom, given by Isaiah, inform us that it:
- is established by Christ (vss 1-5)
- reigns in the hearts of men, over every conceivable class, difference, and temperment of human experience (vss 6-8)
- will blanket the globe (vs 9)
Then, it gets even more interesting, and the prophet can hardly contain himself, as he "spills the beans."
And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign* of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
Isaiah 11: 10
* ensign, or "banner"
Remember that expression, "...his rest shall be glorious." for it's in this context that the prophet lets loose with the promise of the "second return."
The Second Return
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,. . . .
vs. 11
This convergence of events: of a world wide evangelization, after which the fulness of the Gentiles comes in ( Romans 11:25, Rev. 11:2) -along with the return of the Jews from the north, and from the four winds of heaven (so to speak) -is when the next significant event takes place on the gospel calendar:
An evangelical explosion among the Jews.
Multitudes, of natural Jews, will turn to Messiah, Jesus, "...and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son...." (Zechariah 12:10) Mourning, for an only son.. . . Do you remember what they called Jesus, on Palm Sunday? They didn't mourn for Him then, but they did acknowledge who He was.
They cried, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." (John 12:13) Or, as two blind men said of Him, "O Lord, thou son of David, have mercy on us." (Matthew 20:30).
David their king; the man after God's own heart, from whose line another David (son of David) would arise -and rule forever. Thus, after David had long passed from this present world, the prophets wrote of the David of the future: Messiah, Who would be looked to, in this time of "Jacob's trouble."
They will be "saved out of it." and,
they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
Jeremiah 30:9
Has God raised up the Christ, among them? Yes, He did. But, as Isaiah noted, at the time He was despised, "and we esteemed him not,..." (Isaiah 53:3). So that now, we must get a revised picture: one of spiritual "guerilla warfare" -in which the battle goes underground into the hearts of men . . . and then deep into the underground, beyond the Jews, so that the Gentiles eventually find themselves looking to the Jewish Messiah and its "ensign" (the Old Rugged Cross) from the far corners of the globe! Only then, when the Kingdom has spread to all corners -except home -will the Jews, the physical nation to whom the literal Messiah (Jesus) had come, begin to turn.
It is time for birth. But first, the results of this Jewish revival: a Jewish peace.
The First Peace
Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
Jeremiah 30:10
Did you remember to make a mental note, of that glorious "rest" of Isaiah 11:10? Here it is, again, in Jeremiah's sister passage. This is the rest, which Hebrews four calls the rest of faith, in the Messiah (Jesus).
Resting in Him (i.e. believing).
It's mentioned again, by Jeremiah, in his thirty-second chapter. Here, we may see both the second return, and the first peace. Note the obvious references to the gospel components of this peace: one heart, one way, . . . everlasting.
and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
Jeremiah 32:37-40
The Prime Temple
It's time to again visit the temple. For, at the time of the gospel light (believing) when all nations have the opportunity to look to Israel's God (through Messiah: Jesus) and while Jerusalem is enthroned in the hearts of real Christians (Jer. 3:17) God rebuilds David's temple. In these days , the Lord says, "they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given . . . unto your fathers." (Jer. 3:18)
It is in this same day (check the context) that God will have already rebuilt the temple (Acts 15:15-18) and ". . . they will say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more." (Jer. 3:16).
What is this?
A temple, without the Ark of the Covenant?
Yes, for Jesus is our ark, and His blood is the seal of our covenant. He is where God's mercy now sits, and He is where we may find rest. So that today, it is God's people who are His temple (I Cor. 3:16, I Peter 2:5) and within our hearts, is the place of His throne.
Will a physical temple be rebuilt? God knows. But it really is irrelevant. Such would be a false temple, with inferior worship. God's people are His temple and, "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. . .." (I Cor. 3:17) -sounds like a warning to Antichrist, if you ask me (II Thes. 2:7,8)...
Truly, there is a magnificent peace, ahead for Israel: a real peace. It is this peace which, I believe, will incense and anger the forces of darkness all the more. The nerve, of Jews turning to their Messiah. Why, next thing you know, they'll join forces with their Gentile brothers and want to cram the Bible down all our throats!
But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: . . . and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; . . . .
Isaiah 11:14,15
(Remember those "two witnesses" spoken of, last chapter? Notice anything familiar??)
Keep your eye on the Stock Market (but not your heart!). Watch carefully, the economies of the world. "Egypt" here, symbolizes the world system (I Cor. 10) and the "Egyptian sea" symbolizes the source of her financial life (as was the Nile). Remember, we're coming to birth, and the physical world is starting to be judged by the spiritual. Israel came out of Egypt, and in the end, God destroyed the system from which they'd escaped.
Obviously, Satan's kingdom will only take so much of this battering before fighting back. When the witness is complete, the world system will counter attack. Thus, when we will have finished our testimony . . . the stops will be pulled out, for final judgment (II Thes. 2:7,8, (II Pet. 3:9)),
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Revelation 11:7
It is Satan's last stand. United once more by Christ's blood, and by our own, the Church will go through the birth canal, to be resurrected in a better day (for us)and of wrath, for all others.
Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.Zechariah 14:3
It's all over, but the shouting."The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever."
Revelation 11:15
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