Prophecies

[mrversatile48]

2 Peter 3 says that this world is reserved for fire

Why?

The reason is the same as the explanation for the global flood of Genesis 6

"The Lord saw how great the wickedness of man had become, how every inclination of his heart was only evil continually, & God repented that He had made man on the earth, & His heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth"

Here is the first half of an article in today's www.prophecyupdate.com

Why is He so angry? - By Stan Goodenough - Jerusalem

It's a dreadful depiction, the image of Almighty God visiting His fierce anger on the nations of the world.

In John's Revelation, the Apostle watches as angels pour out seven bowls of "the wrath of God," afflicting mankind with sores, pestilences, thirst, tormenting heat, devastating earthquakes, hailstorms and other terrors. (Revelation 14)

Isaiah, gazing into the future centuries before, sees the Lord striding out of Bozrah, His sword crimson, His robes red from the blood of the nations He has trampled in "the winepress of His wrath." (Isaiah 34 and 63).

Who, the prophet asks, is this terrible Being traveling "in the greatness of His strength?"

It is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the LORD God of Israel.

Why has He crushed the nations so ferociously as to leave sword and clothes drenched in blood? Because it is the day of His vengeance.

Vengeance for what? What is it that has made Him so angry? What are the nations guilty of that has caused this rage to build up inside the Creator until it is ready to erupt in a flood of fury?

Isaiah, together with the other prophets - Jeremiah and Nahum, Ezekiel and Micah, Zechariah, Zephaniah and Joel - gives us a clear and unmistakable answer:

It is His year of vengeance for the controversy of Zion. (Isaiah 34:8)

God is furious with the nations because of the way they have mistreated and persecuted Israel - the apple of His eye. (Zechariah 2:8)

And He is bringing them into judgment because they scattered His people and divided up their land. (Joel 3:2)

The LORD is determined, as He says through Zephaniah, to gather the nations together in order "to pour on them My indignation, all my fierce anger…" (Zephaniah 3:8)

Why is He so angry? Let us count the whys:

For 2500 years the Jews have been singled out for persecution, dispersion and destruction.

The history of the Gentile nations toward them has been one of hatred manifested in every form of cruel violence man, at every stage of his progression through the centuries, could devise.

Name it; it's been done to the Jews. And it's been done to them simply because they are Jews...
*******************************************************

I've omitted the gory details, for the sake of the squeamish

The feature finishes on 2 precise prophecies, in Psalms 2 & 83:-

"Why do the nations rage & the peoples plot in vain?

"The kings of the earth take their stand & the rulers gather together against the Lord & against His Anointed One

"Let us break their chains", they say, "& throw off their fetters"

"The One enthroned in Heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then He rebukes them in His anger & terrifies them in His wrath, saying,

"I have installed my King on Zion, My holy hill" - (Psalm 2:1/6)

(For any confused by the Matrix movies, Zion is Jerusalem, the capital for Messiah's Millenium reign over all Earth, in Person, with a rod of iron, to bring perfect peace & justice)

"O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still. See how Your enemies are astir, how Your foes rear their heads

"With cunning they conspire against Your people; they plot against those You cherish

"Come", they say, "let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more"

"With 1 mind, they plot together; they form an alliance against you" - (Psalm 83:1/4)

I'll be back to summarise the feaature on why God laughs the nations to scorn & holds them in derision - www.prophecyupdate.com - today

Ian

[mrversatile48]

WHY THE LORD LAUGHS - from www.prophecyupdate.com - today:-

Isaac, a Window Into the Future

On the subject of "theme," the life of Abraham, features a key word: "promise." The Lord promised him descendants beyond number – children, both physical and spiritual. Yet, even in his old age, he and Sarah had not conceived even the first heir. The promised child seemed an impossibility. Once, when the Lord appeared to him, Abraham asked whether the promise had been forgotten. At one point, he even suggested that his household steward Eliezer might become his heir. The Lord’s answer was certain:

"And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be" (Genesis 15:4,5).

A bit later, in Genesis 17:19, the promised heir is divinely named, far in advance of his birth:

"And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him."

Isaac, a superb type of Christ, is forever linked to the covenant of promise. At the same time he is given the curious name, "Isaac," meaning "he will laugh." Scripture tells us that his name came in response to Sarah’s ironic laughter at the suggestion that she … at her advanced age … could actually bear a child.

But laughter is a great metaphor. Here, it reflects the joy at overcoming the seeming impossibility of this world’s tribulations. Isaac represents the joyous victory that humanity will experience, when the elements of promise are finally realized. As in Psalm 2:4, the Lord shall laugh at His enemies:

"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."

Jesus, Himself, expressed this promise in one of His first messages:

"Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh" (Luke 6:21).

Jesus was also divinely named in advance of His birth, as the angel Gabriel told Mary, "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS" (Luke 1:31).

Like Joseph, Jesus – "salvation" – is a child of promise. Both are named before birth, and both are linked through the promise of redemption.

Their births are similar in another way. Namely, they are both miraculous. Sarah was barren. More than that, her advanced age placed her well beyond the normal hope of motherhood. Yet she bore Abraham a son … "in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him" (Genesis 21:2). The time and place of his birth were foreordained.

This miracle foreshadowed the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus, which also came at a precise historical moment. The promise begun in Abraham and Isaac, was completed in Jesus, who in John 3:16, is called the only begotten son:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Isaac, too, was called an only son. He foreshadowed even this aspect of Christ’s life, when the Lord told his father to offer him as a sacrifice. "And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Genesis 22:2).

Isaac points the way to the final fulfillment of the Lord’s promise. His life is an expression of the Lord’s plan. Like notes in a musical score, he brings depth and harmony to the reality of the life to be lived by Jesus.

Many have pointed out the similarities in their lives. Isaac was mocked by those of his own household. In a much more open way, Jesus was mocked by His brethren.

Both were considered an acceptable sacrifice. The Lord commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, clearly making it known that He would be satisfied with this supreme act. Jesus, born without sin, and never having broken the Law of Moses, was deemed ultimately acceptable.

Isaac carried the wood of the burnt offering to the place of his own sacrifice. In this way, he pointed to Christ, who carried His own cross. Both men went willingly to the place of their sacrifice.

On the third day, Christ arose from the dead. Similarly … "on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off" (Genesis 22:4). On that symbolic third day, Abraham and Isaac arrived at the place of sacrifice. In the ensuing events, Isaac was placed upon the altar, but was spared when the angel of the Lord stayed Abraham’s hand.

Then, the Lord provided a ram for the sacrifice, and Isaac arose from the altar, as one risen from the dead, saved by the substitutionary atonement provided by the Lord. He prefigured the resurrection of Jesus.

Both Isaac and Jesus were "forsaken" by their fathers. It is the natural thing for a father to give his own life for his son. However, it is quite contrary to the natural order for fathers to deliberately lead their sons to the place of death. Abraham obediently took Isaac to certain death. God the Father led His own Son along the same path. But both sons were brought back from certain death.

Isaac’s heart must have jumped for joy. On his way back from the place of sacrifice, he and Abraham must have excitedly shared their mountaintop experience. No doubt, their conversation was spiced with the laughter of rejoicing. Isaac’s laughter prefigured Jesus’ great victory over the dark forces of this world.

The metaphoric relationship between Isaac and Jesus is truly marvelous. The laughter of victory precedes the victory, itself. In terms of the historical timeline, it may be said that Christ’s victory was considered as having been fully realized – nineteen centuries before it was accomplished at the Cross.

Here, the pattern is laid out from the beginning, fully accomplished in the vaults of eternity, but laid out in successive stages in our world of time. Resonances and harmonies along the timeline produce the grand Messianic designs that we perceive only in part … only in time. But biblical typology is time travel in its purest sense. Archetypes are impossible unless their ultimate fulfillment is already an accomplished fact.

It is quite beyond human understanding that the Lord holds men responsible for lives whose details are worked out in accordance with a future plan. Yet that is exactly what He does. And when we think about it, men’s daily lives are shaped minute by minute in the vibrations of a future that lies beyond their vision.

[Dad Ernie]

WHY THE LORD LAUGHS - from www.prophecyupdate.com (http://www.prophecyupdate.com/) - today:-

Isaac, a Window Into the FutureThank you for these articles. I will have to visit the suggested website.

I too see the "pattern" set down in the OC and "completed" in the NC. I think it is necessary in order to affirm the veracity of ALL of scripture. When such a "parallel" exists in the scriptures in such fine detail over a period of thousands of years, one is very hard pressed to say that it was not of Godly design and purpose.We see that Isaac had two sons. Esau who was first who later married into the Ishmaelite clan can be likened to all the nations prior to Israel, meaning specifically - Gentiles. Jacob, OTOH, was the "chosen" through whom God would reveal His glory, and the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. We begin to see a picture develop in the NC of how "Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated." Throughout the OC, we see the "gentiles" as loathsome, heathens, no better than dogs. This is pointed in Jesus' conversation with the Cananite woman:
Mat 15:22-28 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, [thou] Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast to dogs. 27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.


And in Romans we find further explanation:Rom 3:29-30 [i][Is he] the God of the Jews only? [is he] not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 30 Seeing [i][it is] one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.


So it was through Isaac that a picture is developed whereby both Jew, the first to receive the gospel message (and who would become last in accepting it) AND also the Gentile to whom the Kingdom of God came after it was taken from Israel.


Blessings,

Dad Ernie

P.S. Well, I just visited the web site, and it is PRE-TRIB. This is so unfortunate because that doctrine is absolute heresy.

[mrversatile48]

Ernie

Jesus Himself promised, several times, the instant airlift rescue of all who love Him - the "Rapture of the saints"

1 Thessalonians 4:14/5:9 assure us that those who love Jesus are not destined to go thru the day of God's wrath

The accelerating, intensifying birthpains - of all kinds of disasters - are clearly all around us, but are not part of the Great Tribulation

Revelation 6, 8, 9 & 16 all show cataclysmic judgments being poured out on those who reject Christ as Lord

In Rev 6:8, 25% of mankind die - in Rev 9:13/18, 33% of mankind die - building to total Armageddon in Rev 16/19

All those events are in the Great Tribulation, the "treading the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God"

Again, those who love Jesus are not destined to go thru God's wrath

That's why Jesus could say, "Don't be afraid..don't be alarmed..don't let your hearts be troubled"

The birthpains - like all birthpains - bring on the Great Delivery: the Rapture

It is POST-trib that is dangerous heresy: "there would be no flesh left" after the Earth is destroyed by fire, (as in 2 Peter 3)

So, "look up, for your salvation draws near!"

Ian

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Ian,

You do not know the difference between resurrection and rapture.
You do not know the difference between tribulation and wrath.
You do not know the difference between the antichrist and whoever else you may think of as characters in the end times.
You do not understand that Jesus is NOT going to leave any of His sheep behind.
You do not know that there will be NO physical temple built ever again.
You do not know that YOU are responsible for delivering the gospel message to the Jews in the end times.
and on and on it goes. How sad.

Your Servant in Christ,

Dad Ernie