Tuesday, September 1, 2020

GOD'S DIVINE PLAN FOR THE REDEMPTION OF MANKIND.





By Pastor Mike Taylor








16  “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:17  Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ”. (Colossians 2:16-17)

10 “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Revelation 3:10-11)


18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”(Isaiah 26:18-21)


Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3)



Does God have a plan for mankind? Has He revealed it to His people through the words of  your bible? These are but a few of the passages that speak of God sending His Son to remove His Bride, before His wrath falls on unrepentant mankind.

(I have preached in the past, that God has a chronological plan for the redemption of mankind. These are found in God's Feast Days that were fulfilled to the very day when Jesus was on earth the first time. On each spring Holy Day, Jesus Christ fulfilled each day on the very day of their observance...The Jewish people did not understand what it was that God had ordained for the redemption of His creation. Being close to the coming Feast of Trumpets, which is the next Feast of God to be fulfilled, I have decided to post this again to explain what each event means to the Christian believer and those who do not believe. Will Jesus come this next month? We don't know, but we do know that it is called “no man knoweth the day or he hour”...it is what Jesus told His disciple 2000 years ago...and nothing needs to happen in prophecy for Jesus to break through the clouds and cry, “Come up hither” So come Lord Jesus.)

God has laid down a plan, a chronological plan for the whole of mankind that is sprinkled within the pages of your bible. In Ancient Israel, during the Exodus led by Moses, God instituted festivals, or feasts given to the people of God led out of Egypt by His chosen messenger, Moses. These festivals were given to the nation of Israel and most of the religions of today discount these as “Jewish”, but fail to understand that these were given by God to humanity as a benchmark, or guide to His plan for all of mankind's redemption. Each belong to Almighty God and not any nation, creed, or race. They are God ordained. They were first given to the Hebrews who to this day, do not understand their significance in our lives. I will look at them in this message as “timelines of prophecy” or what God has done for man, and what He intends to do in the near future.


When our great and awesome God gave them to Israel, the people did not understand them, as mentioned, in their spiritual application, but followed them as rituals for what God expected of them. They were physical representations to them that were carried out without understanding of their final outcome and what they represented. Each of these days pointed to one event, the coming of the Messiah and His redemption of all the earth and His greatest creation, mankind.

THESE FOLLOW IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

In the spring, begins the first of the Feasts, called Passover. In the Exodus, the Hebrew people were spared the death angel killing their first borne by striking the door post and the lintels with the blood of a lamb. You can read about this in Exodus chapter 12. Sadly, Israel has never gotten beyond this act of sacrificing a lamb on Passover and were observing it during the lifetime of Jesus Christ. But the life and death of Jesus Christ changed this observance for all time.

Jesus during the evening preceding His death, called His disciples to gather together for the last supper meal where our Lord and Savior changed the emblems of this Holy Day from a lamb slain to a memorial of bread and wine:

26  “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28)


Jesus proclaimed a new symbol of the Passover, the wine and the bread, a symbol of His broken body and His shed blood. Jesus did this a day before the day the Jews would be observing the Passover with the sacrifice of thousands of lambs in the temple, because Jesus knew that He would be the Passover offering for the sins of all mankind. At the time of our Lord’s death on the cross in the afternoon before sundown, thousands of lambs were being ritually slaughtered in the temple, but the supreme sacrifice that would take away the sins of the world, was being laid down in blood spilled upon a cruel cross at the exact moment of the events going on in the temple. Coincidence? No, God does everything right on time.  When Jesus was laid in the tomb of a rich man, fulfilling scripture to the exact detail, He arose three days exactly from that time of His death. Exactly as scripture proclaimed and He proclaimed to the temple priest when driving out the money changers, He arose three days later.

19 “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
21 But he spake of the temple of his body.”(John 2:19-21)


Upon  the first day of the week, when the women came to the tomb to prepare the body for burial, they found the tomb empty and went and told the disciples who ran to find out if this event was true. Afterwards, Mary Magdalene was crying in the garden area of the tomb, when Jesus appeared to her.

14  “And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
15  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
16  Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
17  Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 14:14-17)

Why was this significant, and why did Jesus not want Mary to handle Him? In the temple on that morning was another event that Jesus was preparing to fulfill.

That very morning is known as the “Wavesheaf Offering of First Fruits.” The primary history of this event is found in 
Leviticus 23:9-14:

9 “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”

As this action provided the first fruits of the harvest, Jesus was to ascend to the Father to be the first fruit raised from the dead. The Bible nowhere indicates that the priests understood the ritual they were performing on Saturday evening when Jesus Christ, the archetypical Wavesheaf, was "harvested" from the material world by being resurrected from the dead. On Sunday morning, as the firstborn of many brethren, He was lifted into and through the heavens to God's throne to be accepted by Him as the sacrifice for our sins and as our High Priest.

The Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost

Seven weeks from the time of the Wave Sheaf Offering is the Feast of Pentecost.  It is the last Holy Day observed in the spring. When Jesus was on this earth after His resurrection until the time of His ascension to rejoin His Father at His right hand, He commanded His disciples to tarry till He send them the “Comforter”. 

And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

Pentecost is unique among the holy days because it is the only annual feast determined by counting. All the other festivals God commands  to observe on certain dates on the Hebrew calendar, but we must count for Pentecost. Whether we count fifty days or seven weeks or seven Sabbaths from the day of the wavesheaf offering, we must still go through the exercise of measuring the time to keep the feast properly. Why? God does nothing without a purpose, and His purposes always include giving His people additional instruction for their ultimately eternal benefit. Counting to Pentecost is no exception.  God gives us many numbers in His Word to give us a season to expect His return and unfolding events.


No where in this message, can anyone proclaim that God will do this or that on a specific date. To set dates in stone is to go against what God told us that “no man knoweth the day or the hour, but my Father only" but it can give us a direction to know that events are lining up with what His Word proclaimed.

So let’s recap the symbolic meaning of God’s plan for man that is replayed during the springtime of each year of man’s existence here on earth. Remember, these were symbolic in the days of Israel, but have been made real, as Jesus Christ has been crucified and shed His blood for the remission of sins for all who believe.

-Passover symbolizes our redemption from this world and the forgiveness of our sins.

-Unleavened Bread is a week long observance that follows Passover day and  typifies our lifelong task of coming out of sin and putting on the new man in sincerity and truth.

-We begin to count on wavesheaf day, which occurs during this period, and the fifty days extend to Pentecost, a festival that symbolizes the harvest of God's first fruits, as the church was born on this day.


These feasts days are God’s Spring time of prophetic time markers for the redemption of His creation. Those plans have been completed. Jesus has died and rose again. We who have believed have had His blood applied to our lives and we proclaim a memorial of His death and resurrection with the Lord’s supper of the bread and the wine until He returns to gather His church unto Himself. We seek by the power of the Holy Spirit to remove sin from our lives, as portrayed by the Feast of Unleavened bread. Symbolically, we press on to become conformed to the image of the only example we have for being accepted by the Father into His presence, His Son Jesus  Christ. We have before the Father, our high priest and the first fruits borne of the dead through resurrection, our Lord and Savior, and we have been given the power of the Holy Spirit to be our guide, our counselor, and the power within us to complete that transformation.

28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 8:28-30)

THE AGE OF GRACE.

Between the spring and the and the fall, is the coming summer  months that the harvest grows. It is the time that we are now experiencing and fast drawing to a close. We are in the age of grace, the age of the church upon this earth. During this time, many trials come upon any believer, and among us grow the weeds among the harvest…called tares in your bible.

24  “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matthew 13:24-30)

We that have discernment and are following the ways of our God and  Savior, know that evil abounds all around us. The tares or weeds, are right among us in the church. During this summer months of the Age of Grace, God allows the wheat and the weeds to grow together, but will separate the true from the false.  When will that be?

As the spring time markings of the salvation of our God, brought about by our Savior Jesus Christ has been completed, and we are in the midst of the growing harvest, we await the completion of God’s plan for man, as symbolized by the Feasts given by God and observed in the fall. Symbolically, we are on the cusp of the end of days that I believe, we are experiencing right now.  Let us now look at the spiritual meaning and application of these prophetic time markers that are called God’s Holy Days beginning in the fall

FIRST FEAST OF THE FALL, FEAST OF TRUMPETS


The first time marker is the Feast of Trumpets. If you study your bible, you will notice that the trumpet was used for many points of communication to the people. Each trump was blown in succession in the wilderness, and during the time of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. In the wilderness, the first trump or the left horn was blown to alert the people, saying “Heads up” Attention, If you will. . The right horn, or the second blast was designed to get the people ready to move. The last trump was used to signal, “Move out” (yes, we will)…they were also used in battle as signals.


According to Jewish tradition, the first trump is blown with the left horn of the ram Abraham sacrificed instead of Isaac (Gen 22:13). This is blown at the end of the spring time, or Pentecost that we just described above. The last trump is blown with the right horn of the ram. This is blown in this first feast of the end of the age of Grace, or the rapture of the church. The ram represented Jesus. He will sound both the first trump and the last trump. In the book of Revelation, John hears the sound of a loud trumpet.


10  “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;13  And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.” (Revelation 1:10-13)

John hears a loud trumpet and turns to see the  Lord of Glory, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Paul describes this sound that I believe John heard:


50 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.(1st Corinthians 15:50-54)

And again in 1st Thessalonians;

14 “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1st Thessalonians 4:14-18)

A trumpet was also used to announce the coming of the KING. This trumpet that each of the apostles heard was our God, Jesus Christ sounding His coming with a shout that sounds much like a loud trumpet blast and is what John and Paul both heard.

NO MAN KNOWETH THE DAY OR THE HOUR

Another interesting fact that has been proclaimed by numerous writers, AND opened this message, is that the Feast of Trumpets is the beginning of the secular New Year and is called Rosh HaShanah.

"The problem of Rosh HaShanah is heightened by the fact that it falls on Rosh Chodesh, the new moon itself. Therefore, even in Jerusalem it would have been difficult to let everyone know in time that the New Year had begun. To solve this problem, a two-day Rosh HaShanah was practiced even in Israel. Creating a two-day Rosh HaShanah was also intended to strengthen observance of each day; in the rabbinic view, the two days are regarded as a yoma arikhta, ONE LONG DAY. It has been called “when no one knoweth the day or the hour”

Recall what Jesus told His disciples?Matthew 24:

36 “ But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matthew 24:36)

This was a well know feast day that any Jewish man would have recognized immediately, as it was part of their culture, and their very lives.

Could our Lord be giving us a clue to His coming? What day, what year, we don’t know. We cannot say with certainty, but there has nothing to happen before the Lord breaks through the clouds and proclaims with a loud trumpet call, “
COME UP HERE.” This year it falls on September 18-19,as it is two days in Jewish culture..will Jesus come this fall? Answer: no one knows...but we keep watch and pray, as one of these coming years, which could be this fall or next year or the year after that, then Jesus will come, and He told us plainly, that we are indeed, in the very last days of the LAST DAYS. “ So when all these things begin to happen, lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh”....Jesus will come, and to many, He will come as a thief when they least expected Him.

CONCLUSION

Let me make one bold statement right here. If God has been fulfilling His plan for man in the past, on the very day of these Ancient God given time markers, called God’s Feasts, is it not plausible or even wise to conclude that God will continue to do the same for the fall feast on THE very day? If God  has done this in the past, is it reasonable to expect Him to do the same in the fall observances?  I know one thing, God does not change, and He gives discernment and reveals truths to His people in preparation for His movement. Our God is a God of order and He gives His people plenty of knowledge found in His Word should they read and understand with their spirits, not with their heads, but with their hearts.

DAY OF ATONEMENT, CHRIST'S SECOND COMING?

Following on the heels of this aforementioned Feast of Trumpets, are the 10 days of Awe in Jewish culture, or having your name written in the God's book of life...it could very well correspond to the coming Tribulation, when Israel will be tried as silver is refined in the furnace,(Malachi 3:3) and many Gentiles will believe along with them, but many will die for that faith.

Following on to the end of the Tribulation, is the next observances of the Plan for Man that God has given us in His Word, next is the “Day of Atonement.”.( at-one-ment with God). 
Atonement  is used in the sense of "a covering," and therefore as a means of forgiving sin. By contrast, in the burnt offering, sin is nowhere seen because it is not part of what the burnt offering teaches. In it, God is satisfied because the one offered has met His requirement through Jesus blood in his life, and by the righteous way he lives his life by following the example of His Lord Jesus. Thus, the offering shows the life of the believer is accepted.


Many believe that this is the time of the marriage supper of the Lamb, where the saints in heaven are wed to the groom, our Savior being joined to His church and the feast is completed here on earth during the Millennium .  Revelation 19:

7  “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.” (Revelation 19:7-9)


At the conclusion of the time of feasting and being joined to our bridegroom, the Lord sets up His Kingdom here on earth, as Atonement is following closely by the Feast of Tabernacles. After destroying all rebellion with the sword of His mouth, our God, Jesus Christ will complete a prophecy marker, know as the Feast of Tabernacles, or God with us. Revelation chapter 19:

11  “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.(a sign of the saints, another clue to the rapture of the church, my explanation)
15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16  And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16)


God will literally tabernacle with us for 1000 years and rule the nations with a rod of iron. All will be set aright and return the earth to the time of pristine condition that was in the time of Adam and Eve. Rebellion will be put down, sinners will be eliminated, and Satan will be bound for 1000 years in a bottomless pit. There will be no temptation from the author of all lies, and mankind will live unusually long lives.

During this time, God will command that all keep the Feast of Tabernacles as read in the book of Zechariah chapter 14:

16  “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17  And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18  And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19  This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.” (Zechariah 14:16-19)

Why does our Lord command us to keep this time of the Feast of Tabernacles? Because our God is finally with us, and commands us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. All who are mortal during this time, will be introduced, as we were to the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and to believe on/ or not to believe on what He did. That will be the job of the redeemed Church, as Kings and Priest to guide all who are born during this 1000 year reign of our Lord Jesus, to the foot of the cross...Temple sacrifices and worship will be resumed, as Jesus cannot die again, but the symbolism will point to what He did thousands of years prior. All other markers in prophecy mentioned before and written in God’s Word have been totally completed, but God, our Lord and Savior will continue to redeem mortals in the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ. Men will still be of a sin nature, but not to the extent with Satan removed from tempting them. When Satan is unleashed from his pit, then somehow he will deceive a vast number of people that the bible speaks of in Revelation chapter 20:

7  “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” (Revelation 20:7-9)


At the end of this glorious time when Jesus will reign with righteousness and justice, that Satan will be allowed to be loosened for a short season to tempt all who have been born during the Millennium. It’s almost unfathomable that men and women who have been in a first person relationship with God Almighty will follow this “prince of lies”. The bible says it will be so. Hard for me to imagine, but I can’t imagine Israel in the wilderness going against the miracles of a God among them and following their sin nature either, but so it was. Those deceived will come against the Holy City which is the Throne of God our Savior, and fire will come down out of heaven and destroy them all.


At the end of this period, when all sin is exterminated, it will prove that man cannot be trusted in his mortal state. God will remove all aliens that are not washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and the remainder will be spirit beings, as God the Father is, and as Jesus  Christ is…. as the Church Saints are, so shall all men and women be.


But before that is finished, there is one last feast proclaimed by God. In the Bible, it is called the “Last Great Day.”…Great because it will be the final judgment of all unsaved men and women from all of human history standing before a “Great  White Throne.”.


JESUS JUDGES FROM THE GREAT WHITE THRONE OF GOD

11  “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”(Revelation 20:11-15)

So ends the time of mortal mankind, and the beginning of eternity...we will be with God the Father and the Lamb in the New Jerusalem and God will dwell with us forever, and ever. God will create a new heaven and a new earth, as the old earth will pass away with intense heat and fire.

THESE FEAST ARE FOR EACH OF US

How do you become written in the book of life? What is the one work that you must do that will qualify you to be counted among the children of God?

8 “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:8-13)



And the mini sermon that is the essence of what the bible was written for and spoke to me as a boy:

16  “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.17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

God’s plan for man embodied in these time markers of prophecy and fulfillment point to only one Man, the Son of Man….the Son of the Living God, Jesus the Christ. Know this my reader, these coming Feast either past or present are for your redemption or for your destruction that you choose, because you have rejected the only Way back to God our Father...repentance and asking Jesus to be your Savior, guarantees your eternal life and being in the Family of God.

 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”(John 14:1-7)(another clue to the rapture of the church, among many in your Bible.)


If you have not found this truth in Jesus Christ and His atonement for your sins, and spelled out in these biblical revival messages, I call upon you to let me introduce you to the only name that will lead to eternal life and escape eternal judgment, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

This is Pastor Mike Taylor, wishing God’s love in your life. If there is anything I can help you with, counsel you, or just listen to your prayer request, then give me an email 
to pastormiketaylor@yahoo.comt, God bless you until hopefully,

WE MEET AT JESUS FEET


Friday, August 28, 2020

USA & Babylon/USA in Prophecy: Is It Really There?





- By Ron Ferguson -

Before you read this, I need to explain that I am not American but an outsider about 13/14,000 km away, but for 60 years I have tried to study the USA and what happens there. Don't be too hard on me!
 
American Christians are concerned about the morality cliff over which the nation is plunging, and seek to identify with something biblical to explain what they see around them. The decline in the United States is on all fronts - church attendances are declining; lawlessness is becoming unstoppable; the rise of anarchists and radicals is most alarming; there is a breakdown in co-operative government; financial problems are escalating; Hollywood produces social agenda garbage; the quality of education and the curriculum are in freefall; crime rates are increasing; people are beginning to lose faith in and respect for the judiciary.
 
How do the United States Christians identify with that? In fairness, those problems are not just confined to the United States these days, but are symptomatic of our times in all but authoritarian nations.
 
With recognition of what the country has become, there is fear as to where it is heading. People want answers. Christians want answers. They look to the Bible for these, and the desire to "find it in the Bible" is great. However, the danger is to write into the Bible what it never intended, and then from silence, to develop a systematic platform for resolving the place of America in the world of the Bible. That then gets hooked into a biblical prophetic distortion that must include the United States at all costs. How rational is all this when considered against the accepted and proper exegesis of scripture? Does the USA really feature in the prophecy of the Bible?
 
I will seek to answer all this, for I find it unacceptable that Christians would distort scripture to make the square peg fit the round hole. I was very surprised to find that some of those accepted views on the United States and prophecy are quite common. I did not think it was until I did Google searches, and there seems just so much. Why would this be?
 
To begin with, I want to say something that is going to brand me badly, I feel, but remember I am an outsider, an observer who has reacted with Americans for over 60 years in a lesser way, but sufficient to form some subjective opinions.
 
In my nation, many consider the average American to be quite parochial, that is, very much absorbed nationally with not too much knowledge of the outside world. In other words, the United States is everything, and all must conform to the United States standard. Not too much leeway is granted for the opinions and attitudes of those outside the United States. I cite franchises here that, when they operate in other nations, they must conform to the very inch how the buildings are constructed (McDonald's, Subway, KFC, Wendy's, etc.) and to the exact style and colors of uniforms, etc. That gives the message, "We know what is best for everyone else."
 
I don't want to be misunderstood here. I want to say that it can breed a subtle impression that "We are the best," and "We are right."
 
When you believe you are the world leader (probably justifiably so), then the next step is to think you are important enough for God to take note and include you in the prophecy of the Bible. If that is so, then why did God not do the same for the great Empire of Spain or Britain or France or China? What is so special about the United States that it must have specific prophecy relating just to it?
 
I must be honest here. Every one of these specific prophecies I have seen mentioned by people when they claim them for the United States has been taken out of context, and that makes a distorted exegesis and does harm to the Bible.
 
It is in the same boat as those who take Ezekiel chapter 1 and build into it a doctrine of alien visitation.
 
Why would God speak of the United States or put secret things in the Bible that the educated find and make a connection to the United States? It just makes no logical sense.
 
Prophecy must be logical and must be interconnected. That is why the entire body of prophetic writings is integrated into a network that is entire, WITH ISRAEL AT THE CENTER. What connection did China have with Israel in the days of the prophets? What connection did the United States have with Israel 2 and 3 thousand years ago?
 
The answer is obvious and is why all nations outside of the biblical references are not included in any specific prophecy. God is consistent about that. Many HOPE the United States is in prophecy because they think their country is too important not to be there. That, though, does not make it work.
 
I have covered two reasons why the United States is omitted from prophecy. In summary -
 
All biblical prophecy that is specific and not general is related to the nations of the biblical times. That is why so much centers around the promises for Israel, the armies of the invaders, the future Tribulation and restoration of Israel, and the downfall of so many of the idolatrous nations surrounding Israel.
There are a few general prophecies also, the best ones being the ones related to "In the last days" as in Timothy, and the Rapture in 1 Cor 15 and 1 Thess 4. In none of these is any country mentioned or alluded to.
 
Prophecy connected with the nations had a connection with Israel. Canada never did. Australia never did. Thailand never did. The United States never did, and that is why all those nations do not feature in any way with specific prophecies for them. Do not make it do so. It is wrong and dishonoring to do it.
There are very few instances where more widespread nations have the slightest mention. These are not actually named nations, but generalities. I will give a few (all NASB):
 
Psalm 97:1 "The LORD reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the many islands be glad."
 
Isaiah 49:1 "Listen to Me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb, from the body of My mother He named Me." ("Islands" - often distant countries)
 
Jeremiah 6:22 "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, a people is coming from the north land, and a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth." (Reference to Babylon).
 
Ezekiel 38:6 "Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops - many peoples with you." (It really means the far remote places, way up north.)
 
Zechariah 12:3 "And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.
 
Zechariah 14:2 "For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured."
 
Gentile nations are ONLY EVER mentioned if they had a connection with Israel in biblical times, either with war or blessing or destruction. The United States can only be included where I have underlined above.
 
So why do people desire for the United States to be included in specific prophecy?
 
Is it for a sense of fulfillment?
 
Is it for a sense of pride? Is it that God just possibly could not have overlooked the United States? I think that is a question that should be examined.
 
Khomeini called the United States the great Satan. Mao Zedong called it a paper tiger, but God has called it nothing. It does not make the Bible record. The United States is a nation that has done a lot of good in the world (promotion of Christian material, evangelists, saving Australia in WW2, protecting free nations of the world), and still does a lot of good, but also produced a lot of evil (Hollywood, the porn industry, greed).
 
It is a nation God has blessed, and I think will continue to bless while it supports Israel with the current president.
 
However, we all know that the great sadness is that it is decaying from within (or, if you like, "coming apart" like a mix of iron and clay), but so is almost every nation of the world. The United States is a member of the world community and shares its destiny with the nations of the world. It has no prophetic links to Israel. Christians are not bad people, and the misguided views of the United States that some of them have, in a certain way, are understandable. "We want to find our destiny. We hope we are there in the Bible." Some Americans hope they are there. As nations, specifically, neither the whole of North and South America, nor Australia, nor sub-Equatorial Africa, nor SE Asia have specific prophecies attached to them.
 
Because the United States is or was so rich with trading and enterprises and in military hardware, then certain ones have looked on the United States as being Babylon, even Great Babylon, or Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18. Some want to relate the current move to apostasy in the United States to Babylon - a mixture of truth and utter confusion. It might be understandable that Americans would want to do this, but that again is problematic because of the introverted nature of the American psyche in a few, where SOME Christians think that their nation MUST be in scripture.
 
In the history of Babylon, we begin with Nimrod, who established Babel, a place of rebellion against God. He and his wife/mother Semiramis and son Tammuz (Read The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop) created a commercial and religious organization that infiltrated the whole known world. It confused the true worship of Jehovah (Babel means confusion).
 
Babel grew into Babylon that eventually became a world power (the first and the finest [head of gold]) that had an impact on Israel. The Pharaoh dynasties did not really impact Israel as a world power as did Babylon, Media Persia, Greece, and Rome. Babylon conquered Judah around 597 BC under Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews have never been a free and nationalized people since that time until 1947/48.
 
Of course, Babylon continues as Iraq generally today, though borders have come and gone. Assyria covered much of Syria and Iraq. However, I will distinguish between Babylon the nation, and Babylon the system. No more mention is made of Babylon as a nation in the Bible outside of the Old Testament, apart from passing references in Acts 7:43 and an improbable one in 1 Peter 5:13. It is not until Revelation that we read of Babylon, but what is the Babylon here?
 
In 312 AD Constantine the great had his great victory at the Milvian Bridge, which he attributed to a supernatural vision of a cross and words saying, "By this you shall conquer." He renounced paganism and allegedly became a Christian. Then he made all his soldiers to be baptized, and they joined (flooded into) the church. The problem there was that, in the main, they were unconverted, and they consequently brought all their pagan practices into the church. In time, some of the old Babylonian elements became incorporated in Christian doctrine; and over the centuries, they became absolute doctrine in the Roman Catholic church.
 
I won't try to give a comprehensive list of practices, but they include the adoration/worship of the Mother/Child deity, the doctrine of the Queen of Heaven, the wafer as a round symbol of the Sun god, and the wearing of vestments. The scholarly study of these, and a whole lot more, is found in The Two Babylons.
 
Now, what you have in the above is the functioning of the Babylonian system. This system has infiltrated all religions of the world and brought confusion and degeneracy of belief. The system is alive today.
 
What of the nation of present-day Iraq? There is no prophecy for that nation as a specific item, though no doubt it will become an adherent of the power base for the World Leader after the Rapture (the Antichrist, if you like). On the other hand, its system is energized and will form the basis of the Revelation Babylon.
 
Let us move to those Revelation references. There are 7 references: one in chapter 14 and the remainder in chapters 17 and 18. Chapter 17 is the destruction of religious Babylon, and chapter 18 is the downfall of commercial Babylon. The great question among scholars is what does Babylon represent here - an actual new construction of Babylon, or a site somewhere which assumes the name Babylon, or a religious and commercial system that follows the millennia confusion of this evil system? And - - - the United States?
 
The first question we ask is how and why would a new Babylon be built? There is no logical sense for this, for it would have to be absolutely huge. The timeframe is against it as this system operates through the Tribulation, and such a construction would take years. This notion was popularized by the Left Behind series of books. There is absolutely no reason for it except to satisfy a wrong understanding of Babylon in Revelation that some presume has to be a place or city. It makes no sense.
 
A site somewhere that assumes the name Babylon is likewise a silly notion. One can understand through a careful reading of Rev 18 that commercial Babylon is worldwide and totally comprehensive. That is way beyond the suggestion of a specific location.
 
The third option of it being a system is the one that has the only credibility.
 
Babylon is an octopus-strangling system that controls the whole world religion and commerce in the Tribulation.
 
The influence of Babylon is already in religion, but after the Rapture, its evil will be paramount. The study of Revelation shows clearly that the worship under the False Prophet will be a satanic, drug-induced, evil system. That is more in fitting with a Babylonian system than a particular city with that name. It means functionality and interactive trade made rich by the evil of the Antichrist and False Prophet and favoritism, until the Antichrist and False Prophet turn on Babylon at the end.
 
There is an interesting verse in Rev 17:9; "Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits." We have here a twofold possibility. "Mountain" in prophecy means a kingdom/nation as in Isaiah 2:2; "Now it will come about that In the last days, the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it." However, it has been noted since the time of the early Church fathers that Rome is the city of the seven hills - The seven hills are Aventine Hill, Caelian Hill, Capitoline Hill, Esquiline Hill, Palatine Hill, Quirinal Hill, Viminal Hill.
 
This has caused some commentators to say that Mystery Babylon of the Tribulation will be the Roman Catholic church as the Vatican is in Rome.
 
I reject that. I do think it is most likely the headquarters of the Tribulation apostate church. This Mother of Harlots will be in Rome, and the Vatican will play a part, as will the apostate elements of all of Christendom and all other world religions. The Roman Catholic church may be "babylonian" in some beliefs and practices, but it is not THE religious Babylon of Rev 17.
 
The fourth option some promote is that the United States now is the Babylon of the future post-Rapture. That is just wrong. The timeframe is wrong; the concept is wrong; why not make it China, as that nation is a match for the United States in commercialization, but more cunning and more apostate than the USA. To claim the United States as the great whore or the commercial Babylon of Rev 18 is just another parochial introspection to try to force the nation into biblical prophecy when it is not there. If the United States was a righteous and clean nation, then students would not be making the Babylon claims.
 
It is likely that commercial Babylon will have an operations base somewhere in the world, as does the UN with its headquarters in Brussels, but if that is the case, then I'd expect it to be in Europe (a lesser possibility is the Middle East), considering that will be the powerbase of the Revived Roman Empire.
 
What is the backbone of the United States at present? It is not its military might; it is not its innovation; it is not its Constitution; it is not its capitalistic enterprises... it is the Christians. The morality of Christians and God's good hand on the nation is only because of its Christian confession. Once you remove that at the Rapture, then the nation sinks into the moral abyss that will be the feature of all the nations of the world post-Rapture. The world becomes a morality mess, out of which will rise a satanic worship system to be known as "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH," in God's eyes (Rev 17), and also "Babylon the great which has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev 18) as the world plies its trading.
 
There is an especially errant internet site that tries to defend America as Babylon. People who do this will go to great lengths to strain scripture through the eye of a needle, and that is what this site does. As proof that America is the great Babylon, it proposes these reasons, all developed from Revelation 17 and 18:
 
Proof #1: Deep Sea Water Port - Because of the mention of ships and the sea in Rev 18:17-19, then America qualifies.
 
Proof #2: Top Financial/Military Power Rev 17:9, 18 and 18:18; has to be America as it is the chief economic power of the world and the greatest importer and (infamously) consumer of goods and resources in the world per capita.
 
Proof #3: Babylon Must Have A Recognizable Mother Country. "Unlike all the
other countries named" [by the site], America has a clearly recognizable mother country. Yes, Great Britain is the "Mother Babylon" of Jeremiah 50:12, which "Daughter Babylon" came from. Great Britain will watch as her closest and most powerful ally is destroyed in a single day, a single hour. (Putin boasted once that he could destroy America in half that time.)"
 
Then it goes on to talk about the eagle wings describing Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel and the American eagle. This is the type of distorted interpretation these advocates of America = Babylon contrive, attempting to prove a delusion unsupported by the Bible. I have just read an interesting article from a site called "Feed the Hunger" in Burlington, NC, and would like to add some quotes from it:
 
[Let's look at some aspects of Babylon the Great that are mentioned in Revelation. It is easy to see how America has brought prosperity to the earth, yet has caused the world to get drunk on her adulteries (Rev. 18:3). It also has a vast shoreline that would put its destruction in plain view (verses 17-18). There are several other compelling similarities. However, our country has not yet come even remotely close to persecuting and killing Christians (17:6 & 18:24). Currently in America, there are only rare cases of persecution, and they pale in comparison to what millions of believers in other countries have endured and continue to endure on a daily basis.
 
Another problem I have with the "America-equals-Babylon" viewpoint is that I sense there are strong and deeply rooted hints of nationalistic pride in the hearts of some of those who believe our country is God's best, yet also worst creation ever. God is not sitting on his throne draped in our flag and speaking English, but He does deeply care for every soul.
 
Lastly, my main hurdle with staking a vehement claim that America is now Babylon the Great is that it means you have to completely ignore the Middle Eastern context of the Bible. Yes, Revelation is perhaps the main book in God's Word that speaks of what happens to the whole earth, and America could be Babylon. But, in my opinion, this cannot be proven until all of the events of Revelation have taken place.
 
My bottom line: At the very least, America has the spirit of Babylon the Great, and that is enough for me to have grave concern for our country's future. What's worse, the main cause of this spirit, in my mind, is the failure of the American Church. The Body of Christ has made the downward progression from being the driving force at our nation's founding to being (spiritually) anemic and lazy pew sitters who don't live different from the country's non-believing population. We've turned a blind eye to sin and actually built our "faith" around self-indulgence, believing that God owes us whatever we ask.]
 
In conclusion
 
The United States is not featured in biblical prophecy. It had no relationship to biblical events or lands or conflicts or prophetic promises that connect it with Israel. It has no more relevance to prophecy than has China, Japan, Mexico or Canada.
 
The United States is not Babylon or the Great whore or Mystery Babylon. In one way, it is becoming "babylon" in the sense of confusion, the meaning of the word, but so is every other western country.