February 1, 2015 - A. V. Rauf
The Fullness of the Gentiles…..How Close Are We? (Part 2)
After the age of the Church, God refocuses His attention on Israel as a nation after the Rapture of the Church.
For what it’s worth,the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) has moved the Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to disaster or midnight. It now stands at three minutes before midnight.
The BAS was created in 1945 by the scientists who had participated in the Manhattan Project, developing the atomic bomb. These scientists ultimately devised the Doomsday Clock in 1947, after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in Japan. This was done to alert the public to the dangers of nuclear proliferation. Midnight represents a global catastrophe.
Since the clock’s creation, it’s been adjusted 18 times — sometimes farther from midnight to reflect improvement. However as of last week, it moved two minutes closer to midnight.
Zechariah 12:2-3—- Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
Truly, Israel and her capital, Jerusalem, are the keys to knowing how close the world is to the advent of Antichrist and the beginning of the last seven years in history known as the Tribulation period. A time is approaching, and I believe very soon, when God will return His strategy for salvation back to the nation of Israel.
Jeremiah 30:7—Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.
While the LORD will come as a thief in the night at the commencement of the Rapture, there is no rapture for unbelieving Israel who will face the darkest hour of history as did their father Jacob. This seven year period is known as the time of Jacob’s trouble. Some Bible prophecy scholars also refer to this period as the Seventieth Week of Daniel. If Syria and/or Iran attack Israel and if the Syrians are defeated so completely that the government falls, you may know of a certain that Antichrist is about to make his appearance. In the very deception he perpetuates, the Antichrist will attempt to counterfeit the Millennial Reign of Christ and enforce a 7 year peace treaty with Israel. At the midpoint of this treaty (after 3 1/2 years) he will break his treaty, after which things will become increasingly desperate and downright diabolically fatal for Israel. Whereas 1/3 of Jewry were annihilated by the Nazis in the Diaspora during World War II, according to Zechariah 13 2/3 will be destroyed by the forces of Anti-Christ in Israel itself.
Zechariah 13:8-8—And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.
What we must also understand is as the Age of Grace comes to an end, the LORD will begin to make war with the nations (especially the ones who come after Israel) and He will be dealing directly and personally with Israel at a time the Gentile Church is no longer a factor in the equation.
Yet another mystery that is linked to the fullness of the times of the Gentiles as well as the beginning of the tribulation period can be found in I Thessalonians Chapter 4. Being that there were no chapter breaks it is crucial to read on thru Chapter 5. See for yourself:
I Thessalonians 4:13-18—But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 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………………here comes the next chapter and the first 9 verses:
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Rapture of the Church will mark the unleashing of two things occurring in parallel affect with each other, one ultimately being the wrath of God and the other being this period of trouble from which Israel shall be saved despite the fact that according to Zechariah 13:8-9, 2/3 will face extinction. This is a very difficult topic to write about yet as Christians we must always pray for the peace of Jerusalem. God tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem in
Psalm 122:6-9: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.
Jerusalem will be the scene of Christ’s return:
Zechariah 14:4–Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Later in the same chapter is described what appears to sound like a Nuclear catastrophe gone wrong:
And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. 14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. 15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
Earlier in this post I had mentioned that the purpose of the Doomsday Clock which is now three minutes away from midnight was to alert the public to the dangers of nuclear proliferation and that midnight represents a global catastrophe. Again our source should not be the Doomsday Clock but of course the Bible itself.
As you know, Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to visit the U.S. in March of 2015 and address the Congress. This has not settled well with the current administration in the White House. There have been recent rumblings of a possible military escalation in Israel’s Northern front. ISIS or ISIL also has bases in Syria and rumor has it that they may be looking to enter Israel soon. It is very, very possible that the Israeli military may be planning and preparing for a very near-term and literal combined fulfillment of the following verses:
Isaiah 17—The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. 2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria….
Psalm 83—Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. 2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. 4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: 6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; 7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: 10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. 11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: 12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. 13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. 14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; 15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. 16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Lord. 17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: 18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth.
The modern nations included in Psalm 83 are Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Psalm also points to the limited regions of northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey and the northern border of Syria.
Jeremiah 49 (THE ENTIRE CHAPTER IS WORTH A READ!)
Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? 2 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord. 3 Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together. 4 Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me? 5 Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth. 6 And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord. 7 Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? 8 Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him. 9 If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. 10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not. 11 Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me. 12 For thus saith the Lord; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it. 13 For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. 14 I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. 15 For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men. 16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. 17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. 18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. 19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? 20 Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. 21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea. 22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. 23 Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. 24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. 25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! 26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. 27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad. 28 Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the Lord; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east. 29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side. 30 Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the Lord; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you. 31 Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. 32 And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the Lord. 33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it. 34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, 35 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. 36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. 37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: 38 And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the Lord. 39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lord.
Again keep in mind that Asher is ancient Assyria/modern Iraq, Elam is modern Iran, Dedan is Saudi Arabia and Ammon/Moab/Edom represent Jordan. Elam is an ancient geographical location mentioned in the Bible. Today its location would be mainly in Iran with a small section in Iraq. It bordered with the ancient Babylonian Empire. The actual location of Elam would be the very northern end of the Persian Gulf and down along with the west coast of Iran. Today one of main sections of ancient Elam would include Busher Province with the capital city of Bushehr.
Bushehr is very important today because it is the location of Iran’s nuclear facility and has the attention of the world. Thus, the physical location of ancient Elam is crucial today. Ithas been allegedly reported that Iran would use this plant to help build nuclear weapons to destroy Israel and threaten other nations. Israel has stated that it will not allow Iran to become a nuclear power and Benjamin Netanyahu will address the U. S. Congress about the dangers of Iran becoming a Nuclear power in a few months.
I want to close with this notion. Without writing a detailed post on the Blood Red Moons, and although by no means am I in anyway whatsoever attempting to be a date-setter, it may be of interest to observe the following dates in light of the remaining Blood Moons for the year 2015:
April 2015 as well as September 2015.
We shall see if the the fullness of the Gentiles is indeed coming to a close very soon…….MARANATHA!