from The UPLOOK (December 2004) --edited for web
page 1 of 4
Purified and focused
Never Again!
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
One of the hardest things for me personally, to practice, is the all sufficiency of Christ within my own life. It is “natural” to wish for things to always go smoothly, yet I have learned from experience and the Scriptures that it is through adversity that we grow stronger in our ability to trust in Him, and sharpen our focus on things eternal. Thus, testing helps to purify, while obedience brings us into godly focus (Rom. 5:3-5). This, also, a proper fear of God assists us in, for it supplies us with an urgency to see things His way (Ps. 111:10, Prov. 8:13, II Cor. 7:1). Never must we allow ourselves to come to the place where a donkey must correct us!
Even the US has refused to place its consulate in Jerusalem
[but]
. . .
If, at this point [we] cannot agree to respect . . . Israel's dominion over Jerusalem, then when?
. . .
this second era (that we now live in) ends with the rise of Antichrist (11:7)!
Within the past several months this periodical has focused most heavily upon an application of the ministry of the two witnesses to our present circumstance: that it is forecast to take place after the fulfillment of our Lord’s declaration of Jerusalem’s being trodden down by the Gentiles, until the time of the end. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Luke 21:24
Which corresponds with John’s revelation of the two witnesses, in the eleventh chapter:
But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Revelation 11:2,3
Of course, even considering the 42 months, and 1260 days, as symbolic in nature, there are those who would point out that Jerusalem has yet to be acknowledged as Israel’s capital, by most within the international community. Even the U.S. has refused to place its consulate in Jerusalem. To this point allow two items of observation:
1) That the text says nothing about international recognition, only about being trodden down (under the dominion) of the Gentiles. Israel now has Jerusalem within her national boundaries.
2) If, at this point in history, the international community cannot agree to respect and render due honor to Israel’s dominion over Jerusalem, then when? Shall we wait for this to take place under Antichrist (when he makes his seven year covenant)?
But the succeeding verses state that this second era (that we now live in) ends with the rise of Antichrist (11:7)!
Pause, and calmly think of that!
A PRESENT APPLICATON:
Although not anticipating the present reaction to the latest US election, it is significant to note that the bulldogs of the secular world (i.e. the homosexual lobby) would most certainly assumed that they would overturn any “conservative” President or politician who would dare oppose them—yet the Christian community, within the US, has prevailed upon this latest election. So much so, that news analysts are still attempting to recover from the shock.
What next? Where do we go from here? Can we return to the 50’s, or earlier (before Israel’s return to nationhood)?
