This is an update of an article originally published in March 2004.  While it’s based on the Bible, it also includes Jewish wedding traditions from Biblical times.  Some of these traditions go all the way back to Abraham’s time and are described in Genesis 24.

Birth of a Tradition

Abraham was getting old and Sarah had died, so he sent his chief servant to the land of his brother to get a wife for Isaac. The servant loaded up 10 camels with gifts and set off. After some time he arrived in the village of Abraham’s brother Nahor. Approaching a young woman near a well, he asked for a drink, in accordance with a plan he had devised with the Lord.  When she offered to draw water for his camels as well, he recognized the confirming sign he had asked for and accompanied her to her home.

That evening he asked her family for permission to take the young woman, whose name was Rebekah, back home to be the bride of his master’s son Isaac. Using the gifts to reward her and compensate the family for the loss of their daughter, he said he wanted to leave immediately. When Rebekah’s father turned to her for final approval, she agreed and they set off the next morning. After several days travel during which the servant told her all about her betrothed, they arrived at Isaac’s home where she met him for the first time.  That very evening Isaac and Rebekah were married.

That’s The Way It Goes

Members of royalty often followed a procedure very similar to this in obtaining brides for their sons, sometimes arranging them years in advance of the actual event. Common people also adopted this method, but of course with them the prospective groom acted on his own behalf rather than sending someone in his stead.

Even today in some Middle Eastern cultures arranged marriages are common, with the groom’s mother selecting a bride for her son. The logic here is that a young man’s mother knows her son and his temperament better than anyone and can most accurately predict what kind of woman would please him. On one of our trips to Israel and Jordan, our Jordanian guide told us that his marriage had been arranged in this way and he was very happy with his mother’s selection.

Back To Biblical Times

In those days when a man took a liking to a young woman, he approached her father to ask for her hand in marriage.  Due to the prevailing economic conditions back then,  it took a long time for a man to become financially stable enough to think about starting a family.  When he did, he looked for a bride young enough to bear him many children.  So while the man in these cases could be in his thirties, the potential bride would often still be a teenager and would need her father’s permission to marry.

Inviting the man into their home, the young woman’s parents sat down with him around a table while she brought wine and four cups. After she had poured each of them (but not herself) a cup of wine, she listened while this man, who she was meeting for the very first time, described his assets, skills and other qualities that made him a desirable mate. A brief negotiation followed where the price he would have to pay as compensation for the family’s loss of their daughter was determined. It was called the bride price.

If the two men reached an agreeable amount all eyes turned to the daughter who had been listening intently to the entire discussion. She now had to decide if she would take this man to be her husband. If she turned her empty cup upside down, the man went away never to return. But if she filled her cup and took a sip of the wine, she was agreeing to become his wife.

At that point they signed a betrothal agreement, wherein the man promised on oath to return for the young woman when all the wedding preparations were complete. Now they were officially engaged and the relationship could only be terminated by a divorce.  He went away to build a home for them on family property next to his father’s house. This could take some time, and the couple rarely met again until the father of the groom pronounced the newly built home fit for habitation.  Only then was the wedding date set, and the man given permission by his father to go collect his bride for the wedding.

During this time the young woman was to watch and wait at her parents’ home. She and her bridesmaids had to maintain a constant state of preparedness, since the wedding date would not be revealed to her until the bridegroom actually appeared at her door to take her to their new home.

Surprise, Surprise

For his part, the groom would try to show up unexpectedly to surprise her, carrying her off suddenly “like a thief in the night” when no one would see them. The only advance warning she would get was the sound of his voice shouting her name and the blast of a ram’s horn.

When the bridesmaids discovered that the bride had been “spirited away” they would organize a great torch-lit procession, going throughout the whole town announcing that the wedding banquet was soon to begin. The banquet typically capped off a seven-day celebration during which the bride and groom were hidden away in their private rooms while the whole town made merry. Then they reappeared at the banquet to receive the congratulations of their friends and family, and their married life officially began.  The father of the groom picked up the tab for all the festivities.

Maybe you’re beginning to see the similarities. The Lord Jesus, being royalty, does not come directly seeking His bride. His Father sends an unnamed servant on His behalf, just like Abraham did. This servant of course is the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, Who beckons us.  Interestingly, the name of Abraham’s servant was Eliezer, which translates “God is my Comforter.” And even more so, in Genesis 24 Eliezer’s name is never mentioned, as if he’s serving as a model of the Holy Spirit, Whose name is also withheld from us.

The role of the Holy Spirit is to extol the virtues of the Son of God, Who when told that the Bride price was nothing less than His own shed blood, agreed to die for us, and for the joy set before Him endured the cross. (Hebr. 12:2).  His last word from the cross, recorded in John 19:30, was tetelesti, a Greek word that’s been translated “It is finished.”  In the Lord’s time it was a legal term that literally meant, “Paid in full”,  It was written across paid invoices and prison documents upon release of prisoners who had served their full terms, and had therefore paid their debt to society. With His death Jesus paid the price in full for His bride.

Who Loves You?

At the Last Supper Jesus had hoisted His cup and said,  “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor. 11:25).  When we first “take the cup” we’re signifying that we’re officially betrothed,  and we’re rewarded with gifts from the Holy Spirit, Who is sealed within us as a guarantee of our inheritance (Ephe. 1:13-14). We then begin our journey, the balance of our life on Earth, while the Holy Spirit continues to teach us about our betrothed and helps us develop  behavioral standards that are pleasing to Him.

As He does, we learn to our utter amazement that we have always been our Lord’s consuming desire,

That He lived so that we might come into existence and be set apart,

That He has longed for us to know how much He loves us,

That His every word and action were designed to bring us honor and express His devotion to us,

That He has dedicated Himself to us and covered all of our imperfections with His love, and

That He gave His life for us.

For His part the Lord is even now building a house for us. “You trust in God; trust also in me,“ He said. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3) He has sworn on oath to return for us when the wedding preparations are complete and take us to His Father’s house, to the place He’s been preparing for us.

Soon And Very Soon

One day when we least expect it, He’ll come like a thief in the night and spirit us away to our new home.  For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so will we be with the Lord forever. (1 Thes. 4:16-17).

In Heaven  the King and His Bride will be hidden away in our rooms, while on Earth the last seven years of human history unfold. (Isa. 26:19-20) At the end, following the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), we’ll return to Earth together to rule and reign for 1000 years, and then it’s off to our eternal life with Him.  Praise the Lord.  Selah 08-22-09

Table of contents for Saved From the Worst

1. Saved From The Worst But Kept From The Best?
2. Who Are The Overcomers?
3. Understanding The Olivet Discourse Parables
4. Understanding The Olivet Discourse Parables Part 2

Part One of a Two Part Bible Study by Jack Kelley

If you’ve been visiting this site for any length of time at all you know I believe that once we’re saved we’re saved forever. I base this belief on a number of verses that say so in no uncertain terms.

But as I study the conditions on Earth just before the Second Coming, I can find no such assurance for those who become believers during the time of the Great Tribulation. It appears that the promise of an indwelling Holy Spirit that guarantees our eternal destiny is uniquely given to the Church. No Old Testament believer enjoyed such a relationship. Even King David, a man after God’s own heart, prayed that God would not take the Holy Spirit from him following his sin with Bathsheba. (Psalm 51:11) Old Testament believers were not promised that the Spirit of God would be sealed within them as a guarantee of their destiny.

Likewise there’s not a single verse that makes such a promise to Tribulation believers. What I do find for them are verses like the following. Speaking of the time when the whole world will be forced to take the Mark of the Beast or die, John wrote:

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” (Rev. 14:12-13)

Here the Lord admonished Tribulation believers to obey the Commandments and remain faithful, knowing that those who refuse the mark will either be martyred or forced out of the world’s economic system, denied access to life’s necessities. Those who die for their faith will be blessed, because their ordeal will be over.

And in Rev. 16:15 the Lord said,

Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.

If you’re familiar with the symbolic reference to clothing, you know what this verse means. If not, let’s review it. Isaiah 61:10 says, I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Just as clothing provides physical covering, righteousness provides spiritual covering. God has clothed us in garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness.

Now look at Zechariah 3:3-4. In Zechariah’s vision, Joshua, the High Priest, is standing before the angel of the Lord, obviously Jesus.

Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.”

Removing his filthy clothes symbolized taking away his sin. Putting rich garments on him made him righteous.

Rev 19:8 tells us that the Bride had been given garments of fine linen bright and clean to wear and that the fine linen stands for her righteousness. But again, the clothing isn’t hers. It was given to her.

This use of clothing to symbolize righteousness is the main issue in the parable of the wedding banquet (Matt 22:1-14) The King (God) prepared a wedding banquet (Kingdom Age) for his son (Jesus) and sent his servants (prophets) to inform the invited guests (Israel) that all was ready. After first ignoring the invitation, they finally set upon the servants he sent and killed them.

Enraged, the King sent his armies and burned their city (Jerusalem). Then he sent his servants to find anyone they could and invite them to the banquet. The servants gathered up everybody they could find (gentiles) and the banquet was begun. The King noticed a man not dressed in wedding clothes. When the man had no excuse for his improper attire, he was thrown out into the darkness.

In the context of the parable, the wedding clothes represent the righteousness with which God clothes believers when they accept His invitation into His kingdom. The guest trying to gain admittance wearing his own clothes (in his own righteousness) was expelled.

(Remember, the banquet follows the wedding, so it has already taken place when the King comes in. There’s no mention of a Bride anywhere in the parable, and in any case the Bride is not a guest at her own wedding. The Church is not in view here. According to Rev. 19 the wedding banquet will take place after the end on the Great Tribulation at the time of the Lord’s return in glory. That makes these last minute guests Tribulation survivors, some of whom will not have maintained their righteousness and will be expelled.)

What’s The Meaning Of This?

From all this we can safely assume that the Lord isn’t speaking of literal clothing in Rev. 16:15, but of the spiritual clothing that represents salvation and righteousness. Rather than guaranteeing salvation for Tribulation believers and assuming responsibility for their safety like a shepherd does for his sheep, He warns them to stay awake and alert lest they be caught naked when He comes. It’s a clear message that maintaining their salvation is their responsibility and if they’re not careful they could miss out. This warning is given on the threshold of the Bowl Judgments, the final and most devastating cycle of God’s Wrath.

We get another clue of this in Matt 24:12-13.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

As He listed the signs indicating that the End of the Age has come, the Lord alluded to the fact that Tribulation believers will have to stand firm to the end in order to insure their salvation.

You may ask why the Lord would not grant guaranteed salvation to Tribulation believers. But remember, He didn’t grant it to Old Testament believers either. This was because the Old Testament was full of obvious signs of His presence. I could fill this whole document with ways in which the Lord revealed Himself to His people. They believed because of the evidence He provided them for His existence.

During the Church Age these public displays of His presence have for the most part been missing, so the Church hasn’t had this kind of evidence to support our belief. We believe by faith, and receive very special blessings because of that, one of them being eternal security. That’s why Jesus told doubting Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

Once the Church is gone and the 70th week of Daniel begins, the Lord will begin providing obvious signs of His presence again in the form of the judgments He will visit upon the world. And this time all the evidence will have been documented in advance. His presence will be so obvious that it won’t require very much faith to believe that He exists. Their faith will be needed for the patient endurance required in a time when it will literally be a blessing to die instead of remain alive.

What Time Is It?

With this background, we can begin to understand that the Olivet Discourse Parables can only be meant for Tribulation believers. By confirming their timing, we’ll have all the proof we need.

In Matt 24:15-21 Jesus explained that the Great Tribulation will begin with the Abomination that causes Desolation, the anti-Christ standing in the Temple declaring himself to be God. That’s the signal for the Jews to flee into the mountains.

Then in Matt 24:29 He says that immediately after the tribulation ends, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. It’s now 3 1/2 years later. The Great Tribulation has ended.

Matt 24:30 has people on Earth seeing the Sign of the Son of Man in the sky, and then His visible return to Earth with power and great glory, and all the peoples of the Earth mourning. It’s now too late for them to be saved and they intuitively realize it. This is the Second Coming.

Matt 24:36 begins with “No one knows about that day or hour …” What day? What hour? The day and hour of His Second Coming. Stay in context. That’s been His subject since verse 30. I believe the reason He said “day or hour” is so we would know for sure that He was talking about the actual Day and Hour of His Coming, not the general time. All of the Olivet Discourse parables describe conditions on Earth following the day of His return.

By the way, Matt. 24:42-44 tell us that although it will be possible for the people on Earth at the time to accurately plot the end of the Great Tribulation, they won’t know the exact day of the Lord’s return. This is mentioned twice in these 3 verses. It could only mean that there’ll be an unspecified span of time between the appearance of the sign of the Son of Man that will signal the end of the Great Tribulation and His actual return in Power and Glory.

With this background, we’re ready for the Olivet Discourse Parables. The first is one is in Matt. 24:45-51 and tells the story of the two servants. We’ll pick it up there in our conclusion of this study. See you next time.

Opinion by Jack Kelley

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. (Daniel 5:28)

This verse is part of Daniel’s interpretation of the famous “handwriting on the wall”. In the Aramaic language the word peres can mean both divided and Persia. Daniel used both meanings to decipher the handwriting, predicting that Babylon would be divided and given to the Medes and Persians who were camped outside the city.

In what has to be the ultimate example of God’s irony, the politician most responsible for the disastrous land for peace program is Israeli President Shimon Peres, who would divide the land God gave to Israel and give it to the Palestinians.

Over the last few weeks the newly installed President of Israel has gone off on his own to promote the latest iteration of his strategy. The office of President is largely ceremonial in Israel so he has no real authority in foreign policy, but never the less, on his own initiative Shimon Peres has privately met with representatives of the EU, Israel’s Prime Minister Olmert, representatives of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, and now directly with PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad.

According to World Net Daily, “Peres’ plan calls for Israel to hand 97 percent of the West Bank over to the PA, with Israel retaining a small number of the territory’s Jewish communities. In exchange for Israel keeping some land, the Jewish state will give the PA control of Arab Israeli cities north of Tel Aviv which, together with the evacuated West Bank territory, would amount to the equivalent of 100 percent of the West Bank.”

On the face of it, this looks like a great compromise since it also helps to accomplish another goal, that of reducing the number of non-Jewish residents in Israel. For years, one of Israel’s growing fears has been that left alone the so-called Arab population in Israel would soon exceed the Jewish population creating the likelihood that one day the Arabs could in effect vote Israel out of existence. (This is a primary motivation behind the PA insisting on the “refugees” right of return to Israel.)

Of course the fatal flaw in his thinking from the human standpoint is that Moslem nations don’t want peace with Israel. They’re only going along with this peace initiative to weaken Israel enough to make their ultimate destruction of the Jewish State possible. To this end, having territory that puts them within rocket range of Tel Aviv could be very attractive.

But even if they did want peace, Peres has another problem. It’s the same one he’s always had. The land isn’t his to give. The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. (Lev. 25:23) Letting Biblical lands go out of their hands violates one of the provisions they agreed to when the Lord gave it to them.

It’s like me renting a house from you and then selling it to someone else and keeping the money. It would violate our rental agreement. If I offered a defense to the effect that I no longer recognized the rental agreement as binding upon me, that wouldn’t excuse my actions in the eyes of the law. You’d be justified in doing whatever was necessary to get your house back, and making sure I was punished for my illegal behavior in the process.

The legal basis upon which Israel justified returning the Sinai to gain peace with Egypt in 1978 was that it wasn’t part of the Biblical grant. Israel’s southern border was the Wadi al Arish, called the River of Egypt in some translations of Genesis 15:18, and didn’t include the Sinai. But since Israel began to trade West Bank and Gaza territory away, they not only haven’t improved their chances for peace but instead have become more vulnerable to war. It’s because that land isn’t theirs to give.

No one yet knows whether this latest move by Peres will be successful. EU officials are pressuring the US to include it in the agenda for a proposed November Mid-East Peace summit. True to form, PA officials, seeing that they might get their West Bank land, are adding another pre-condition to the negotiations. They now say that Israel must give up all rights to the Temple Mount before any other negotiations can begin. Astonishingly, PM Olmert says he’s considering at least granting joint sovereignty.

The pressure is on everyone, and only the Moslems seem to be negotiating from a position of strength. Pres. Bush has his legacy to consider and needs something to take the spot light off Iraq. Peace in the Mid-East, however fragile, could do that. PM Olmert’s approval ratings are the only ones in the world lower than the US Congress, and he’s desperate to improve them. At times like this, politicians everywhere have a tendency to ignore the long range consequences of their actions in favor of short term approval.

But if a two state solution does come to pass, it will be due primarily to the efforts of Shimon Peres, father of the land for peace doctrine. The man whose name means divided will have successfully divided the Biblical lands of Israel, at least for a time. It’s a move sure to get the attention of the One who owns it. He’d be justified in doing whatever was necessary to get His land back, and making sure Israel is punished for its illegal behavior in the process. God help us all. My Thoughts. 08-22-07

Commentary by Jack Kelley

Just before He was crucified, the Lord told His disciples that as the End of the Age approached we would experience an increase of wars and rumors of war. Nation would rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom, He said.

In just one day this week (June 6, 2007) the headlines in my inbox from the various news and intelligence services I follow showed just how true the Lord’s prophecies have become. As usual most of the action is in the Middle East. Here are the headlines with a little summary thrown in.

Another Middle East War Erupts Wednesday As 50,000 Turkish Troops Invade N. Iraq To Strike Rebel Kurdish PKK Bases

A total estimated by various news agencies of from 100K-250K troops are amassed along the Turkish border with Iraq, which Turkey has declared a military zone. Initial attacks met with heavy resistance from the Kurds.

Turkey is afraid that the US will grant the Kurdish people greater autonomy in Northern Iraq, and indeed the US Army has withdrawn from the area turning responsibility for maintaining order over to the Kurds. Since parts of the historic Kurdish homeland are in Turkey and Iran as well as Iraq, and since Kurdish nationals have struggled long and hard to regain them, having a strong independent Kurdish presence on their borders has both Turkey and Iran upset, especially since that region includes oil reserves large enough to fund a Kurdish nationalist movement.

Syria Holds Back Full-Scale War With Israel As Last Resort While Its Proxies Win Low-Intensity Conflicts In Lebanon And Gaza
Syria is behind the Palestinian eruptions both in Gaza and the Lebanese refugee camps. The goal is to have them fight a war of attrition with Israel to wear down Jewish resistance so Syria can get a better deal at the peace table. Failing that, they’re preparing for all out war, as the next headline will confirm. So far this strategy seems to be working since against all public opinion, Israeli PM Olmert has offered to return the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for Syria’s disengagement from Iran and Hizballah.

Syrian Official: Syria Preparing for War with Israel
A member of the Syrian parliament, Muhammad Habash, confirmed today that his country was actively preparing for war with Israel, expected to break out in the summer, Israel Radio reported. Former Iranian President Rafsanjani has also predicted war in the Middle East this summer.

In fact both Syria and Iran are absolutely convinced that the US and Israel have agreed on a joint plan whereby the US will launch a massive missile attack on Iran later this year while Israel simultaneously goes after Syria. Iran has just concluded an arms purchase from Russia valued at $765 million to help prepare Syria.

IDF Intelligence Research Chief Confirms Hizballah Is Rebuilding Strongholds South Of Litani And Preparing For A Summer War
If war does break out, Hizballah will be there in force having been restored to its full capabilities by Iran and Syria. The Litani River is the boundary below which Hizballah is forbidden to operate, but they’re currently working right under the noses of the UN forces in violation of the UN cease fire resolution. Some think that Syria will order Hizballah to move directly against the UN forces next. The IDF (Israel Defense Force) says it’s ready for any contingency on its northern border and can switch from defensive to offensive posture on a moment’s notice.

Ahmadinijad’s Bluster Boosted By Secret Deal For North Korean Taep’o-Dong-2 Ballistic Missiles

Delivery to Iran has been promised for late July to early August 2007. With a 3500-4000 KM range the acquisition of these missiles will triple the Iranian long-range missile arsenal and improve both range and accuracy, putting Eastern European and Israeli cities and regional US military installations well within range.

Putin Threatens To Aim ICBM’s At Europe To Counter US Anti-Iran Missile Shield
Although the installations are purely defensive and pose no threat to anyone, Russian President Putin is making a huge fuss over them by threatening European capitals. He’s trying to scare the Europeans into forcing the US into abandoning the project. Europe may have to decide whose missiles they want aimed at them, Russia’s or Iran’s.

Document: Iran Caught Red-Handed Shipping Arms to Taliban – ABC News

NATO officials say they have caught Iran red-handed, shipping heavy arms, C4 explosives and advanced roadside bombs to the Taliban for use against NATO forces, in what the officials say is a dramatic escalation of Iran’s proxy war against the United States and Great Britain.

And for those of you wondering how the prophecies calling for the End Times destruction of Babylon could possibly refer to that ancient city in Iraq …

Want Middle East Stability? Move UN to Babylon – Washington Post
Two journalists, writing for the Washington Post, have proposed this idea. “While moving the U.N. headquarters to Venezuela or Iran is probably not wise,” they write, “Moving it to Iraq might be a strategic coup. There is even a ready-made location for it—Saddam Hussein’s 600-room palace and compound constructed over the remains of the ancient city of Babylon. Americans might even consider footing the bill for the relocation.”

In this proposal they make the claim that moving the UN out of America would make many people around the world a lot happier as it would be seen as less of a pawn of the US, and putting it in Babylon could help to create and maintain peace in Iraq. Here’s an idea whose time has come.

Summary
Not since the war of 1967 have so many different countries been talking about and preparing for war. While I don’t see the Battle of Ezekiel in all of this, the summer of 2007 could well see the final pieces of the puzzle falling into place in advance of it. Turkey and Iran have a common interest in seeing the Kurds contained and it could be strong enough to pull Turkey into the Moslem coalition. If Syria promises peace for the return of the Golan, and the Palestinians trade peace for the West Bank, or if Israel finally takes the gloves off and defeats them all, there could be a change of circumstances in the Middle East as dramatic as the “sudden” collapse of the Soviet Union. The fact that it will all be built on a foundation of lies and deceit will escape most peoples’ notice. Better stay alert. 06-08-07

Commentary by Jack Kelley

With the worldwide rise in anti-Semitism, it’s interesting to see all the different groups who claim that they are really Israel and the legitimate heirs to God’s promises. The first and largest of these is the Church.

Replacement Theology
Among Christians, there is a school of thought called Replacement Theology, sometimes known as Supercessionism. This view holds that when the Jews crucified the Messiah they forfeited all the promises God made to Israel and those promises were transferred to the Church. The New Covenant has superceded the Old. Therefore, the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people, and God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. The many promises made to Israel in the Bible are to be fulfilled in the Christian Church. The prophecies in Scripture concerning the blessing and restoration of Israel to the Promised Land are “spiritualized” or “allegorized” into promises of God’s blessing for the Church.

Adherents to Covenant and Reformed Schools of Theology (many of the main line denominations) often subscribe to Replacement Theology as well. For them the re-emergence of Israel on the world scene serves no purpose and is a contradiction of their teaching. This explains how an organization like the World Council of Churches can be so anti-Israel in its world view, or how the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) can justify divesting itself of all financial holdings related to Israel.

It also explains how America’s highest elected officials can pursue a diplomatic policy of dividing Israel with the Palestinians while professing Christianity. Even though the relationship between forcing Israel to cede Biblical lands and the occurrence of so-called natural disasters defies coincidence, they see no connection because they’ve been taught that Israel’s existence today carries no Biblical significance.

The Blood Of Ephraim
Then there’s the Mormon Church, with its members claiming to be descendants of the tribe of Ephraim (some include Manasseh as well) who escaped from the Babylonian destruction by sailing boats to the Americas. Theirs is the Temple of God, they say, and on land they’ve purchased in Kirtland, Missouri the New Jerusalem will stand. Every practicing Mormon receives a Patriarchal blessing that reveals his or her lineage in the House of Israel.

Historically Mormons have referred to themselves as Israel, and we who are not members are still called Gentiles. When I lived in Salt Lake City and brought Jewish men like Gershon Solomon of the Temple Mount Faithful, and Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute to our ministry to teach us about the Coming Temple, I took delight in the shocked looks I received as I told them that they had come to the only place in the world where a Jew is considered a Gentile.

According to Mormon eschatology, at a time when the US constitution hangs by a thread, a Mormon leader will emerge on a white horse to save the land and restore peace.

The Sword Of Islam
Among Moslems there’s a view that since Ishmael was Abraham’s first-born son, he’s the rightful beneficiary of God’s covenant with Abraham. Therefore the Promised Land belongs to his descendants, not Isaac’s. Others say that even if the inheritance does pass through Isaac, the current residents of Israel are the descendants of European converts to Judaism and are the sons of Gentiles, not Isaac, and have no claim to the Land. Whether they adhere to one view or the other, all agree that at the End of the Age Jesus will come back with Mohammed and help him rid the land of any remaining Jews. Even the rocks and the trees will get involved saying, “O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him.”

What Does God Say?
It seems like just about everybody is claiming the inheritance promised to Israel. But what does God say? Has Israel been forgotten because of her disloyalty, to be replaced by the Church?

This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:37)

Why does Israel serve a future purpose in God’s plan, after what she’s done in the past?

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. (Ezekiel 36:22-23)

Will the Lord bring His people back to the land He promised them?

I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:14-15)

Will Israel once again be the pre-imminent nation on Earth?

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” (Isaiah 49:22-23)

What role will the rocks and the trees really play in this?

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. (Isaiah 55:12)

So once again we see the contrast between man’s view and God’s view.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Think about it. How can we believe that God will keep all His promises to us, while at the same time believing that he broke all His promises to Israel? Sure, they don’t deserve His loyalty, but then again, what makes us think that we do?

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19)

It’s a good thing, because we’re betting our eternal destiny on His trustworthiness. Watching Him perform on His promises to Israel gives us great comfort, because by the time we know for sure that He’s going to perform on His promises to us, it’ll be too late for us to do anything about it. Selah 06-03-07

Commentary by Jack Kelley

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2 Timothy 4:3)

As a management consultant I was often asked how much employees should know about the workings of their company, especially in financial matters. My advice was always the same. If you don’t tell them the truth, they’ll make up their own version and it will be detrimental to the company’s profits.

For example, after taxes your neighborhood super market may only get to keep as little as 1/2 of one penny for every dollar’s worth of sales. That means it takes $200 in sales to net them one dollar of profit. Admittedly, this is one of the lowest returns on sales in the business world. The average is 3-5 cents on the dollar. But according to surveys, the public thinks the average business makes a 35% profit on sales. They think it would only take $3 in sales to generate one dollar of profit. So would an employee be more concerned about wasting (or stealing) a dollar’s worth of inventory or supplies if he believed it only took $3 in sales to make up for it, or if he knew that it takes $200?

“People can’t tolerate a vacuum of information” I said, “Better they should know the truth than be susceptible to fantasy.”

History Written In Advance

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42:8-9)

The Lord has always used advance disclosure to validate Himself. We call it prophecy. Knowing the end from the beginning, He told His people things that hadn’t happened, so that when they did, they would know that He is Who He claims to be. Since we know the truth about Him, we’re not susceptible to fantasy.

But there’s one area where the Lord has not been crystal clear where End Times events are concerned and that’s the timing of the Rapture. For this reason the most outlandish formulas surface whenever world events take a significant turn for the worse, as people look for reasons to believe our time here is nearly up. Many of these formulas can be easily debunked with only a tiny bit of knowledge and discernment, but for some reason they gain traction in the Christian community because of our desire to believe what our itching ears want to hear. Not knowing the truth about the timing of the Rapture, we’re susceptible to fantasy.

I’ll ignore the dates arrived at by the cults and kooks and focus only on things taught by believers. Probably the most notorious of these was the booklet entitled “88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988″ by Edgar C. Whisenant, but the latest example I’ve run across has to do with Noah and the Flood. It goes like this.

Genesis 7:11 says that Noah and his family went into the Ark on the 17th day of the 2nd month. Using Rosh Hashannah as the beginning of the Jewish year, someone calculated that the 17th day of the 2nd month would correspond to November 8th of this year. They also determined that Noah died 2006 years after Adam and declared that because the Rapture of the Church would be “as in the days of Noah” the Church would be raptured on Nov. 8, 2006. It didn’t happen.

Do Your Homework

Anyone willing to do a little studying could have predicted the outcome. In the first place, Matt. 24:37-39 says, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

From beginning to end, the context of Matt. 24 in general and this portion in particular is the second coming, not the rapture.

Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. (Matt. 24:40-41)

As we’ve demonstrated before, the word that’s translated taken here actually means received, and the one translated left means to put away. In the Rapture, some are received, to be sure, but none are put away. Those not received unto the Lord are simply left in place to endure the end times judgments. Verses 40 and 41 describe tribulation survivors left standing when the Lord returns. The believers are received into the Kingdom and the unbelievers are put away into the place of judgment.

The really mind boggling thing about the Nov. 8 concoction is that because of the context, only those who see the Rapture and the 2nd Coming as simultaneous events can justify interpreting verses 40 and 41 as rapture verses, and even they have to overlook the primary meanings of the Greek words there. But the Nov. 8 proponents apparently used this passage to justify a pre-trib Rapture. What were they thinking?

As It Was In The Days Of Noah

Jesus said that the day of His coming would resemble the events of Noah’s flood. Before the flood, He said, people were going about their lives right up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the flood came and took them all away. All means everyone. Noah and His family were taken away in the Ark and emerged in a new world. The flood took the rest away to their judgment.

Before the Lord’s return, people will be going about their lives right up to the day of His return. Then He’ll judge them and send them all away. Again, all means everyone. Believing Tribulation survivors, having entered into the “Ark of our Salvation” will be received into the Kingdom. The rest will be put away for judgment.

The “Days of Noah” can also be interpreted in a broader sense as a model of the End Times. In the Days of Noah there was the unbelieving world that perished in the Flood, Noah and his family who were preserved through the Flood, and Enoch who was taken live into Heaven before the Flood. At the End of the Age the unbelieving world will perish as a result of the Tribulation judgments. The remnant of Israel will be preserved through these judgments, and the Church will be taken live into heaven before they begin.

But this is a wider view than can be supported by Matt. 24:37-41 alone. There the Lord was referring specifically to the Day of His Return.

What’s Your Point?

My point in all this to remind us that we shouldn’t take anything any Bible teacher says at face value, no matter how credentialed he or she might be, and no matter how much we’d like to believe what’s being said. Wishing won’t make it so. Like the Bereans, we should receive the message with great eagerness but examine the Scriptures every day to see if what’s being said is true. (Acts 17:11)

The more we learn about what enduring the End times judgments will entail, and the closer we get to the time of their coming, the scarier things can be for us. But here’s where faith comes into play. The Lord has promised to rescue us from their time and place and from any relation to them (1 Thes. 1:10) and we have to be content with that.

He admonished us to be aware of the general times in which we live, and to avoid being taken off guard, but also told us that we wouldn’t know the exact time of our deliverance. When we get caught up in bad doctrine, no matter how well intended, we demonstrate the weakness of our faith, not its strength. Our even weaker brothers and sisters get discouraged and lose heart, and the unbelieving world laughs us to scorn when our incorrectly selected time comes and goes.

What Time Is It?

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25)

The Greek word translated full number in this verse is a nautical term and was used to describe the number of sailors and soldiers required to operate a ship. Until he had a crew of sufficient size the captain couldn’t leave port, so he had to recruit the “full number” of crewmen. The Greek word translated into the phrase “come in” refers to a destination.

I believe their use in Romans 11:25 means that the Church has a pre-determined membership, the “full number”, and when that number is reached we’ll depart for our destination. If so, that means that the Rapture is a number specific event, not a date specific one. This may be the simplest reason of all why we can’t know the exact day or hour. Maybe there isn’t one.

The idea of variable timing isn’t without precedent in Scripture. When Jesus warned the Jews living in Israel at the end of the age to flee when they see the abomination that causes desolation, He told them to pray that their flight wouldn’t be in winter or on the Sabbath. (Matt. 24:20) Does that mean that although the event is certain to happen, the date is not fixed? Would the Lord have them pray for something so important in vain? Remember, Jews can only take 1000 steps on the Sabbath, and then they have to stop or risk breaking the Law. And Judean winters can be miserable. (I was there for the worst one in 150 years on my first trip to Israel in 1994.)

If that’s the case, and we do have some say over the timing, then the best way to hasten our departure is to help the “captain” by recruiting more “crewmen”. If each one of us brought one with us, we could double the size of the Church almost overnight. Then maybe the Rapture would come next week. And if it didn’t, at least we’d have a bunch of excited new believers around instead of having discouraged some more of the ones we already have with another failed rapture date. Isn’t that a better strategy than falling for one more “sure-fire” formula for the date of the Rapture? Selah 11-18-06

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Three current news reports indicate it’s time for another Ezekiel 38 heads up. Remember Ezekiel prophesied that sometime after the Nation of Israel was re-born, but before the beginning of the Millennium, a group of Moslem nations led by Iran and armed by Russia would pull off a devastating sneak attack, entering Israel from the North. For reasons that will become obvious later in this article, we’ve been watching current events that seem to be bringing this prophecy closer to fulfillment. Now to the three news items.

First, in an interview this week, three senior Israeli lawmakers said that if the US doesn’t destroy Iran’s nuclear capability, Israel will.

“We will not live under the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb,” they promised. “Diplomacy will not work. They won’t be stopped unless they are convinced their programs will be destroyed if they continue.”

Israelis across the political spectrum see Iran as the most serious threat to Israel, one that cannot be ignored. The three conceded that there could be problems if Israel acted unilaterally.

“If we have to do it, we will do it. If the United States and the world community do it, there is a chance the issue can be contained. If Israel has to do it alone, there is no chance the conflict can be contained,” they said.

(Although the interview took place in Washington, it was largely ignored in the western press, even though one of the lawmakers is Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The quotes above are from the Times of India.)

Apparently Iranian officials knew about the interview, because they responded by saying that Israel would be ill advised to try such a thing. (This wasn’t reported in the West either.)

Next, Great Britain has revealed that Iran is hiring Iraqi Sunnis to attack coalition forces. Coalition units have been crossing the Iraqi border into Syria to battle insurgents hiding there lately, and because of its treaty with Syria, this obligates Iran to respond. So far Iran has avoided direct contact, preferring to hire Iraqis to do the fighting, but Britain has stated it holds Iran responsible for the recent deaths of 8 English soldiers.

Iran has angrily denied the charges, although its president previously warned that he would punish those countries voting to formally charge Iran with non-compliance of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The vote was successful. Analysts conclude that for countries involved in Iraq, he was speaking militarily.

And finally President Assad of Syria might be in big trouble if the UN investigation into the death of popular Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri implicates his brother and brother-in-law, which now seems likely. Hariri died in a massive car bomb explosion in Beruit last February 14, and Lebanese officials were quick to point an accusing finger at Syria. Enough initial evidence existed to trigger the UN investigation and this week phone records made Assad family participation obvious.

To head off the regime change that could result, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have proposed to the US that Assad be allowed to sacrifice his two relatives, renounce terrorism and kick the leaders of several groups out of Damascus, help the US stop the flow of Baathist and al-Qaida men, money, and materiel going from Syria to Iraq, shut down the Hizbollah, and dismantle Syria’s WMD programs. Assad would have to do this publicly and submit to Egyptian and Saudi oversight to insure follow through as a price for staying in office.

There’s a chance that the UN report will name Assad personally, in which case nothing can help him. But his brother and brother-in-law have been pretty much caught red-handed. Some fear that these two relatives, one head of the Presidential Guard Brigade and the other a powerful intelligence operative might be strong enough pull off a coup, something no one wants. So the Saudi Egyptian plan is getting a cautious hearing in Washington.

Dismantling Hizbollah could get rid of over 12,000 missiles currently arrayed along the Lebanese border with Israel and substantially reduce tensions to Israel’s north. It would also give Lebanon a better chance of succeeding at a fresh start following the Syrian military’s recent departure. Of course the Egyptians want a restart of Golan Heights negotiations in return. They’re hoping that by permanently weakening Assad they can persuade Israel to accept a Gaza-like evacuation of the Golan.

Two of these news items involve Iran’s growing belligerency toward both Israel and the West, a trend that will likely continue following the election of its hardliner president. The other one has to do with creating conditions that would help Israel adopt the false sense of peace many commentators believe must precede the Moslem coalition’s attack spoken of in the Ezekiel Prophecy.

That belief is based on two verses. One is Ezekiel 38:8. After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety.

And the other is Ezekiel 38:11. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars.

The Hebrew word translated as “safety” in 38:8 is betach (bee tawsh’). So is the word the NIV translates as “unsuspecting” in 38:11. Though safety is its primary meaning, betach can also imply a sense of carelessness and comes from a root meaning trusting or confident. This nuance lends credence to the NIV’s choice of “unsuspecting” in 38:11, as if the Israelis would be saying, “We thought this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Scholars speculate that some treaty or offer of third party protection will have come into play prior to this invasion that causes Israel to be caught off guard. And since the attack comes from the North, that means they’d come through Lebanon and/or Syria. The idea that outside parties would guarantee Israel’s safety in exchange for relinquishing the Golan isn’t new and has been rejected before. (Having control of the high ground enables Israel to electronically “see” into Lebanon and Syria, giving them advance warning on any possible attacks. Losing the Golan deprives them of some of this capability.) But a seriously weakened Syria and a peaceful Lebanon, divested of their terrorist training camps and forces, could make the trade-off more attractive this time.

Inquiries of the Israeli leadership as to who they’d prefer to have running Syria in the event the UN investigation brings down the current government indicate an acceptance of Assad, as long as he’s “de-clawed.”

It’s obvious something big has to happen to allow Israel to feel safe enough to mirror the thinking of Ezekiel’s time when only those confident of peace with their neighbors would build entire villages outside protective walls and gates. And given the events of the past 50 years, it’s hard to see Israel ever being that lax in seeing to its own defense. But changes come fast these days. Who would’ve predicted even a year ago that Israel would abandon Biblical lands without even asking for anything in return?

Perhaps the US will fall for Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s plan to save Assad and will pledge to guarantee the safety of Israel’s northern boundaries. Lately President Bush seems no less dangerously obsessed with bringing about a Middle East peace at any price than was his predecessor. (Palestinian officials are even saying that he’s told them point blank that God has appointed him to the task, something the White House strongly denies.) Interestingly, a review of nations Ezekiel named as part of the Moslem coalition invading Israel shows that neither Egypt nor Saudi Arabia is among them.

Of course, all this is mere speculation at this point. We know how fluid the situation is there and how quickly the players can change sides. But if we’re as close to the end as it appears, something has to happen soon to set the stage for this future battle.

Aside from the worldwide consequences, why is Ezekiel’s prophecy so important to the Church? First, because it sets in motion a chain of events that culminates in the Second Coming. It’s the official sign that God is once again visibly intervening in the affairs of man to bring about the fulfillment of His End Times Scenario.

At the end of this battle, God calls all the world’s Jews home to Israel to renew His Old Covenant relationship with them, kicking off the last seven years of human history. Immediately they’ll demand a Temple in which to worship Him. The anti-Christ appears on the scene to help them get it, and in the middle of the seven years stands in that Temple to announce that he’s God. This begins the Great Tribulation, at the end of which the Lord returns to establish His Millennial Kingdom on Earth.

But just as importantly, it means that the Age of the Church is over. 2000 years ago as God turned His full attention toward building His church, Israel disappeared from the world scene. Now, as He once again turns His full attention toward Israel, the Church must disappear. The nearness of Ezekiel’s prophesied battle indicates that the Rapture of the Church is even closer. If you listen closely, you can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 10-09-05

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge.” (Isaiah 30:1-2)

The reports of Palestinian behavior following Israel’s departure from the Gaza Strip are being largely ignored by officials who can’t say enough about how successful Israel’s evacuation has been.

Jewish farmers in Gaza had built a network of greenhouses sufficient to supply much of Europe’s produce needs. To prevent their destruction, American Jews donated $14 million to purchase the 3000 greenhouses from their evicted owners and present them to the Palestinian people as a gift that would provide 14,000 much needed jobs. Within a few days of Israel’s departure they’ve been vandalized almost beyond use. A similar story concerns the Gaza industrial center, where another 12,000 potential jobs have been threatened due to vandalism. This happened because the Palestinian Authority failed to assert control over the area before the vandals could get there.

A more serious problem concerns Palestinian and Egyptian betrayal of both Israel and the US. Following months of hard negotiating, Egypt agreed to assume control for its side of the Gaza border with the PA controlling theirs. This border has long been a hotbed of arms smuggling that required Israel’s constant attention. Israel even agreed to the presence of a limited number of Egyptian military police in the Sinai, a situation prohibited by treaty since the 1973 de-militarization.

But as Israeli forces withdrew, nearly 20,000 Palestinians surged across the border into Egypt, providing a distraction that permitted several thousand others to cross from Egypt into Gaza. Observers claim that many among them were armed terrorists. Hamas operatives even blew holes in the border wall to facilitate this, right under the noses of both Egyptian and Palestinian forces.

Egypt now wants to scrap the agreement and start over. In the mean time they’ve given the Palestinians another 96 hours of unrestricted movement after which they’ll begin to monitor travel from Gaza into Egypt but won’t say when they’ll be able to halt the flow from Egypt into Gaza. It’s a smugglers dream! It’s been estimated that the amount of ammunition and explosives that have come into Gaza in the past few days would have required almost a year to bring in before, and perhaps the entire Palestinian stash hidden in the Sinai now rests in Gaza.

As for the thousands of Palestinians who haven’t returned from their foray into Egypt, Cairo wants to send 5-6,000 secret police into the Sinai to locate and return them. That’s nearly 10 times the number agreed upon in the negotiations, and gives Egypt a substantial military presence there.

While all this is going on, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon is visiting the UN where he’s receiving numerous accolades for a job well done. World leaders are standing in line to congratulate him. As an example, US Secretary of State Rice recently said, “Israeli Prime Minister Sharon’s courageous decision (to leave Gaza) will enhance Israel’s security and allow the Palestinians to make progress towards building the necessary institutions for a future state.” Have our leaders taken total leave of their senses, or are they purposely backing Israel into a corner from which there’s no escape?

There’s a verse from Daniel that comes to mind as I write this. Maybe you’ve heard diplomacy described as opposing parties sitting down together and agreeing on something neither side wanted. But Daniel gives us as good a definition of diplomacy as any I’ve ever seen and it certainly seems to apply here. The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time. (Daniel 11:27)

The two kings were Antiochus IV and Ptolemy VI and the conversation took place a couple of centuries BC but it could just as easily be describing current events. I don’t think the Egyptians ever intended to keep their agreement with Israel, instead hoping for an opportunity to station as many troops in the Sinai as possible. I also don’t think PM Sharon is anywhere near as favorably disposed toward Palestinian statehood as he sounded in his UN speech. And we’ve already seen how the US has backtracked on its position.

But in the final analysis it doesn’t matter what these, or any other, world leaders do. The end will still come at the appointed time, and those who have convinced themselves that they’re in charge will have to give an accounting to the One Who really is.

Fortunately for God’s chosen people, His plan for them isn’t contingent upon the behavior of their leaders. He made them a promise and He’s going to keep it. His word is at stake.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.

For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God”. (Ezek. 36:22-28)

It’s clear that this prophecy has already entered the realization phase. And while it’s not totally fulfilled, once He begins something the Lord always follows through to completion.

Currently about ½ the world’s Jews live in Israel. The rest will come back following the Battle of Ezekiel 38. Then His Temple will be rebuilt and Israel’s final seven years of purification and preparation will commence. Just before His return, the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon them and give them the heart transplant He promised through Ezekiel.

Now at last the Fourth Cup of the Passover, the one the He didn’t drink on the night of His betrayal, can be lifted in its final fulfillment. (The fourth cup represents God’s fourth promise to Moses at the burning bush. “I will take you as my own people and I will be your God.” Exodus 6:7.) The Land of Israel will finally be fit to receive its distinguished Landlord. He will again dwell among His chosen tenants, and Peace will reign on Earth.

Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. (Ezekiel 43:5-7) Selah 09-18-05

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

” ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. (Leviticus 25:23-24)

Right from the beginning, the Lord made good on His promise to bless those who blessed Abraham and curse those who cursed him. When the kings of 5 nations kidnapped Lot and his family, Abraham went after them, aided by Aner, Eschol, and Mamre, three leaders of the Amorites. When the dust had settled, Lot was freed, the 5 kings were defeated, and the Amorites received a handsome spoil from the King of Sodom (Gen.14). Those who had blessed Abraham were blessed and those who had cursed him were cursed.

When Pharoah tried to prevent the Israelites from leaving Egypt, pursuing them all the way down the Arabian Peninsula, he and his armies were drowned beneath the Red Sea.

When the Amalekites attacked Israel in the desert and were defeated, the Lord declared war on them “from generation to generation.” Seen any Amalekites lately?

When Joshua made a pact with the Gibeonites to help the Israelites during the conquest of the land, the Lord honored it, and the Gibeonites were spared. Later when Saul set out to eliminate them from the land the Lord was angered and sent David to apologize and restore them.

The Ammonites, the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Philistines all gave Israel trouble from time to time after they settled in the land. Sometimes God used them as agents of His judgment against disobedient Israel, and other times it was of their own volition. But eventually their animosity toward Israel brought about their destruction. When the Lord sent Babylon to execute His judgment against Israel, He had Nebuchadnezzar destroy those nations completely.

But even the mighty Babylon earned the Lord’s displeasure for the way they treated His people. Informing Jeremiah that as soon as Israel’s 70-year exile had been completed, He would judge their captors (Jer. 25:12), He then told Babylon,

“I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke. You said, I will continue forever— the eternal queen!’ But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.

Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.” (Isaiah 47:6-11)

At the end of the 70 years, the Lord sent the Medes and Persians against them and the great City of Babylon was conquered. Cyrus the Persian set the Israelites free, returned the loot stolen from the Temple and helped them rebuild Jerusalem. In return the Kingdom of Persia enjoyed several generations of peace and prosperity.

When Alexander the Great came through the Middle East but spared Jerusalem, he was blessed with an unbroken string of victories the likes of which the world had never seen, reaching into Africa and all the way across India.

That Was Then. What About Now?

In modern times Israel’s first benefactor was Great Britain. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 made the creation of the modern nation possible. The Lord had given the British lands that spanned the globe. “The sun never sets on the British Empire,” was their legitimate boast. But in 1938 when they suddenly changed their tune and began a period of open hostility toward Israel things changed. Today most of that Empire is gone and Britain is no longer the dominant world power.

And now it seems like the US is learning a similar lesson. In the 14 years since the Madrid Conference began, a series of “natural” disasters have struck the US, each on the heels of something we did or helped do that runs contrary to God’s declaration concerning the real ownership of the Land of Israel. I’ve listed them below.

1. October 30, 1991: The Perfect Storm – As President George H. W. Bush is opening the Madrid (Spain) Conference to consider “land for peace” in Israel’s Middle East role, the “perfect storm” develops in the North Atlantic, creating the largest waves ever recorded in that region. The storm travels 1000 miles from “east to west” instead of the normal “west to east” pattern and crashes into the New England Coast. Thirty-five foot waves crash into the Kennebunkport home of President Bush.

2. August 23, 1992: Hurricane Andrew – When the Madrid Conference moves to Washington DC and the peace talks resume, Hurricane Andrew, the worst natural disaster ever to hit America, comes ashore and produces an estimated $30 billion in damage and leaving 180,000 homeless in Florida.

3. January 16, 1994: Northridge Earthquake—President Bill Clinton meets with Syria’s President Hafez el-Assad in Geneva. They talk about a peace agreement with Israel that includes giving up the Golan Heights. Within 24 hours, a powerful 6.9 earthquake rocks Southern California, This quake, centered in Northridge, becomes the second most destructive natural disaster to hit the United States, behind Hurricane Andrew.

4. January 21, 1998: Lewinsky Scandal – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Clinton at the White House and is coldly received. Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refuse to have lunch with him. Shortly afterwards on that day, the Monica Lewinsky scandal breaks into the mass media and begins to occupy a major portion of Clinton’s time.

5. September 28, 1998: Hurricane George – As Secretary of State Albright works on the final details of an agreement in which Israel would give up 13 percent of Yesha (Judah and Samaria), Hurricane George slams into the United States Gulf Coast with 110 mph winds and gusts up to 175 mph. The hurricane hits the coast and stalled. On September 28, Clinton meets with Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu at the White House to finalize this land deal. Later, Arafat addresses the United Nations about declaring an independent Palestinian state by May 1999, as Hurricane George pounds the Gulf Coast, causing $1 billion in damage. At the exact time that Arafat departs the country, the storm begins to dissipate.

6. October 15-22, 1998: Texas Flooded – On October 15, 1998, Arafat and Netanyahu meet at the Wye River Plantation in Maryland. The talks are scheduled to last five days with the focus on Israel giving up 13 percent of Yesha. The talks are extended and conclude on October 23. On October 17, awesome rains and tornadoes hit southern Texas. The San Antonio area is deluged with rain. The rain and flooding in Texas continue until October 22 and then subside. The floods ravage 25 percent of Texas and leave over one billion dollars in damage. On October 21, Clinton declares this section of Texas a major disaster area.

7. November 30, 1998: Market Capitalization Evaporates – Arafat comes to Washington again to meet with President Clinton to raise money for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. A total of 42 other nations were represented in Washington. All the nations agreed to give Arafat $3 billion in aid. Clinton promised $400 million, and the European nations $1.7 billion. On the same day, the Dow Jones average drops 216 points, and on December 1, the European Market had its third worst day in history. Hundreds of billions of market capitalization were wiped out in the U.S. and Europe.

8. December 12, 1998: Clinton is Impeached – As Clinton lands in the Palestinian-controlled section of Israel to discuss the “land for peace” process, the House of Representatives votes four articles of impeachment against him.

9. May 3, 1999: The Powerful Super Tornado – On the day that Yasser Arafat is scheduled to declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital, the most powerful tornado storm system ever to hit the United States sweeps across Oklahoma and Kansas. The winds are clocked at 316 mph the fastest wind speed ever recorded. The declaration is postponed to December 1999 at the request of President Clinton, whose letter to Arafat encourages him in his “aspirations for his own land.” He also writes that the Palestinians have a right to “determine their own future on their own land” and that they deserve to “live free, today, tomorrow and forever.”

10. Week of October 11, 1999: Hurricane, Earthquake and Dow Collapse – As Jewish settlers in 15 West Bank (Israel) settlements are evicted from the covenant land in Israel, the Dow-Jones financial averages lose 5.7 percent in the worst week since October 1989. On October 15 the Dow lost 266 points, and a hurricane slams into North Carolina. On the next morning, October 16, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocks the southwest in the fifth most powerful earthquake in 20th Century. The earthquake was centered in the California desert and did little damage but was felt in three states. (From www.truthorfiction.com)

And now we have Hurricane Katrina coming right on the heels of the Gaza evacuation that was supported and even urged upon Israel by the US. Projected to be the most expensive natural disaster in our history, it’s the latest in a string of events that most experts agree are too consistent to be mere coincidence, but disagree as to their relevance.

Coincidence Is Not A Kosher Word

Well if it’s more than coincidence, then what is it? I believe there are both general and specific issues involved here. First the general. As a nation founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, the US has been blessed beyond measure. One of those blessings is that our way of life has been supernaturally protected by the God in whose name we were founded.

But starting about a generation ago, some Americans began a concerted effort to exclude this benevolent God from our life. While the vast majority disagreed with this effort, we stood by and let it happen. The statutes written into our constitution to guarantee free religious expression were re-interpreted as freedom from religion. School prayer was outlawed, and then all public prayer was challenged. Now some are contending that by merely asking people of faith to pray for the hurricane survivors, President Bush is violating the law. The right of personal choice was expanded to include some forms of murder, and now 40 million children are dead. Homosexuality was first tolerated and then protected, now it’s being taught in our schools. The list goes on and on.

God created man with free agency, the right of choice. This includes even the right to accept or reject Him. But with every right comes responsibility, with every choice comes consequences. As we choose to exclude Him, the consequence is a progressive loss of protection. We shouldn’t expect Him to go on sheltering us when we’re so determined to get Him out of our lives. After all, He’s trying to persuade us to return to Him. Blessing us hasn’t worked. Perhaps the withdrawal of blessings will.

Now For The Specific.

The lessons of history are unmistakably clear. Those who have blessed Abraham have been blessed, while those who have cursed him have been cursed. When our country makes such an obvious change in course toward Israel as our government has recently made, what right have we to expect anything but disaster? The Law of Cause and Effect is clearly established in the 10 incidents I’ve listed. Even those who vehemently deny the existence of God have seen the trend.

People of Faith united to determine the outcome of the last election. But on the issue of Israel we’re hopelessly divided. Many of us have been so blinded by the heresy called Replacement Theology (it teaches that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan) that we’re like Belshazzar, the spoiled Prince of Babylon. We’re trembling in fear but can’t read the handwriting on the wall.

We need to forget everything else where Israel’s concerned and remember this one thing. God has claimed that land for Himself. No power on Earth is great enough to give even one inch of it to anyone else at any time for any reason without suffering the consequences. We now have eleven clear examples of that truth. How many will it take before we learn? Selah 09-11-05

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.(2 Thes. 2:3)

“By tomorrow, there will be 175,000 more Christians than there are today.” So says Jim Rutz, author of Megashift, a new book on the growth of Christianity in the world. He makes the point that Christianity, not Islam, is the fastest-growing faith in the world, a fact overlooked because most surveys consider only the traditional Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church while ignoring Christian believers who aren’t part of either. Hundreds of millions of these Christians are simply not associated with institutional churches at all. They meet underground in homes and barns and caves, often in secret.

“The growing core of Christianity crosses theological lines and includes 707 million born-again people whose number is increasing by 8 percent per year.” Westerners, says Rutz, have missed this trend because the explosive growth is elsewhere. It’s happening in places like China and India and Africa. (Most of the above was based on an article from WorldNetDaily (www.wnd.com) an internet based Christian news service.)

It’s popular in some Christian circles to wax enthusiastically about the coming revival that will result in the conversion of the world, fulfilling Dominion Theology doctrine. According to this doctrine, the Lord can’t come back until Christianity conquers the world. And indeed, if the trend documented by Mr. Rutz continues apace the entire world population would profess Christianity within 25 years.

Where’s That Written?

But the Bible speaks of no such revival. In fact it predicts just the opposite. According to the verse above, the event that will precede the coming of the anti-christ is a great rebellion, from the Greek apostasia, which means “a falling away, defection, or apostasy.” Paul was predicting a departure from the truth at the End of the Age into a form of belief incompatible with Orthodox Christianity. He explained it to Timothy this way.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.(2 Timothy 4:3-4) He had already warned us through Timothy that this new belief would have a form of godliness but would deny its power. (2 Tim. 3:5)

After true believers are raptured out of the Last Days church, the Lord will characterize those remaining thusly, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.(Rev. 3:15-17)

Truth be told, the only revival predicted for Christianity comes during the post-church period known as the Great Tribulation. Due to the rapture, a huge number of people who were left behind will remember the warnings they received from friends who have disappeared, and an even larger number will be convinced by the literal fulfillment of prophecy right before their eyes. The result will be the largest increase of believers in all of history.

What’s That All About?

So, if the Great Tribulation hasn’t begun yet, what’s this incredible growth of Christianity in Third World countries all about? And what’s fueling it? We’ll take the 2nd question first. The fuel is the Holy Spirit in an outpouring of miracles not seen on Earth in many generations. People are being healed and even raised from the dead as evidence of the power of God in areas where Christianity hasn’t become as “mature” as it has elsewhere.

And that brings us back to question one. What’s happening is that this outpouring is a sign that the Last Days are upon us. Think of it as God issuing a great “Last Call” before He rounds up His Church for the trip home. Remember, He doesn’t want that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) Millions in the Third World are getting a last minute chance to climb aboard that train to glory.

While much of the Western church serves up a version of Christianity so watered down for its seeker audience that it almost fits the definition Paul warned Timothy about, (and surely fits the one described in Rev. 3:15-17) the Holy Spirit has found a less sophisticated audience in the Third World. This audience doesn’t know about programs and denominations, multi-million dollar campuses and 40 Days of Purpose. It simply knows the miraculous power of God in action.

Oddly enough, that’s always been the power that’s drawn people into a life-changing experience. We’d do well to heed Paul’s own testimony to the Church in Corinth. “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Cor. 2:1-5) The Greek word translated demonstration means evidence, or proof, such as would be presented in a court of law.

Where’s Everybody Going?

Contrast that with what some in the Western Church advocate now, which is a much different approach to bringing new folks into their pews on Sunday. They suggest downplaying the Bible, prophecy, prayer, and certainly the manifestation of spiritual gifts. And it appears to work wonderfully well in our “more sophisticated” culture. In a recent survey to identify the fifty most influential churches in America, fully one half of all the votes cast were for Saddleback (1st) and Willow Creek (2nd) two of our largest seeker-friendly congregations.

Did the Lord have anything to say on this matter? Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matt.7:13-14) Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems as if the seeker-friendly approach counsels making the gate wider and the way broader.

But is that what it takes today or could such an outpouring of the Spirit as is being experienced in the Third World happen to the Western church as well? Maybe it already has. Remember, from the mid 1800’s to the late 1900’s we received several such invitations from God. The Great Awakening (mid 1800’s), the birth of Pentecostalism (1906), and the Jesus Movement of the 1970’s immediately come to mind. Each of these brought many thousands into the flock, and each of them continues in one form or another today. How many times do we expect the Spirit to call before the end?

For nearly 2000 years the work begun by Matthew and Thomas in the Far East seemed to have borne very little fruit but suddenly all that’s changed, verifying the Lord’s promise that His word would never return empty, but would achieve the purpose for which He sent it. (Isaiah 55:11) As one famous evangelist said recently, “If the rapture happened today there’d be more people missing from China than from the USA.” Something to think about. Selah 7-24-05