10/7/08
Duty of Man
Ecclesiastes
{12:8} Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all [is] vanity.
**
Vanity-
1. The quality or condition
of being vain.
2.
Excessive pride in one's appearance or accomplishments; conceit. See synonyms at
conceit.
3. Lack of usefulness, worth,
or effect; worthlessness.
vain-
1. Not yielding the desired
outcome; fruitless: a vain attempt.
2. Lacking substance or
worth: vain talk.
3.
Excessively proud of one's appearance or accomplishments; conceited.
4. Archaic.
Foolish.
Vanity of vanities-
Uselessness of the useless?
Conceitedness of the conceited?
Worthlessness of the worthless?
Foolishness of the foolish?
All is vanity-
All is useless, conceited, worthless, foolish?
Even though all is foolishness, the preacher was wise. He taught knowledge,
he listened and sought many proverbs putting them in order.
{12:9} And moreover, because the preacher was
wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave
good heed, and sought out, [and] set in order many
proverbs.
The preacher looked for acceptable words, good words of truth.
{12:10} The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words: and [that which was] written [was]
upright, [even] words of truth.
The words of the wise are tools of a master, given from one who cares for His
flock.
{12:11} The words of the
wise [are] as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of
assemblies, [which] are given from one shepherd.
By those tools, those words be admonished- you could write forever, study for
ever, and grow weary of it all being consumed by everything.
{12:12}
And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making
many books [there is] no end; and much study [is] a
weariness of the flesh.
What's the end of the entire matter? What is most important of all the words,
all the studying?
{12:13} Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter...
Give reverence and respect to God and keep His commandments, this is the
entire duty of man.
{12:13}Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the
whole [duty] of man.
Everything we do, EVERYTHING we do good or evil will be judged.
{12:14} For God shall bring every
work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether [it be]
good, or whether [it be] evil.
**
Talk all you want, study all you want, write all you want, in the end
what matters is our duty to God. The duty that Jesus gave us as an example of
His life.
No, we can't all be apostles, or teachers, or prophets etc. We can't
all be preachers. People are needed for a lot of things. There are shepherds for
sheep, farmers for the crops, basic jobs that are timeless even if technology as
advanced many of their jobs. All sorts of jobs are needed for people to survive-
needed back in Jesus' day, needed in our day. We can't all shun labor and simply
study, life doesn't work that way for most of us, not that it isn't the right
thing for some people, just not all the people. We can't assume our walk with
God isn't strong and good, just because we're not monks, or nuns, or
missionaries, preachers, pastors, etc. Yes, Jesus called laborers from their
work- tax collector, fishermen, and down the line physicians, tentmakers and
such. He told people to follow Him and this was good. He was God with us and His
time on earth needed to be seen and memorized by many to bear witness of Him and
His life.
Jesus didn't come to do away with God's commandments. He came to show
they could be kept, His life bore testament to the commandments and to the duty
of man. Reverence to His Father, and the keeping of His Father's commandments,
which are just and good and born of love.
In all we do, no matter what our walk in life, a hated job we drudge
through day after day, a life of misery born of emotional strain, it doesn't
matter what we do but while we do whatever task life has for us we have to Fear
God and keep His commandments. Everything we do will be judged. EVERYTHING. You
can't hide a single thought from God. Not a single action is hidden from Him.
Our hearts, our lives are open to Him.
May God bless us all as we live day to day. May we all holdfast to our
duty as human beings, the duty we have to give reverence to God and to keep His
commandments, which are summed up in loving Him and loving our fellow man, which
are selfless. In a world where we are taught to look out for number one, to look
our just for ourselves as if what we desired and want matter more than anything
else, help us God, help us to see past the trap of selfishness, of self-focus
and to You and others as Your commands to us are.
Thy will God, Thy will, not our will... be done by the grace and mercy
of Jesus.
Amen.
10/07/09
Application of the Fall of Babylon.--
To come now more particularly to the application of the prophecy
concerning the fall of Babylon, let us see how the religious world stood with
reference to the possibility of such a change when the time came for the
proclamation of such a change when the time came for the proclamation of this
second message in connection with the first about the year 1844. Paganism was
only apostasy and corruption in the beginning, and is so still. No spiritual
fall is possible there. Roman Catholicism had been in a fallen condition for
many centuries. But the Protestant churches had begun the great work of
reformation from papal corruption and had done noble work. They were, in a word,
in such a position that with them a spiritual fall was possible. The conclusion
is therefore inevitable that the message announcing the fall had reference
almost wholly to the Protestant churches.
The question may then be asked why this announcement was not made sooner,
if so large a part of Babylon had been so long fallen. The answer is at hand:
Babylon as a whole could not be said to be fallen so long as one division of it
remained unfallen. It could not be announced, therefore, until a change for the
worse came over the Protestant world, and the truth through which alone the path
of progress lay, had been compromised. When this took place, and a spiritual
fall was experienced in this last branch, then the announcement concerning
Babylon as a whole could be made, as it could not have been made
before--"Babylon is fallen."
It may be proper to inquire further how the reason assigned for the fall
of Babylon--that she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication--would apply to the Protestant churches at the time in question. The
answer is, It would apply most pertinently. The fault with Babylon lies in her
confusion of the truth and her consequent false doctrines. Because she
industriously propagates these, clinging to them when light and truth which
would correct them is offered, she is in a fallen state.
With the Protestant churches, the time had come for an advance to higher
religious ground. They could accept the proffered light and truth, and reach the
higher attainment, or they could reject it, and lose their spirituality and
favor with God, or, in other words, experience a spiritual fall.
The truth which God saw fit to use as an instrument in this work was the
first angel's message. The hour of God's judgment come, and with it the imminent
second advent of Christ, was the doctrine preached. After listening long enough
to see the blessing that attended the doctrine, and the good results that
accrued from it, the churches as a whole rejected it with scorn and scoffing.
They were thereby tested, for they then plainly betrayed the fact that their
hearts were with the world, not with the Lord, and that they preferred to have
it so.
But the message would have healed the evils then existing in the
religious world. The prophet exclaims, perhaps with reference to this time, "We
would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed." Jeremiah 51: 9. Do you ask
how we know this would have been the effect of receiving the message? We answer,
Because this was the effect with all who did receive it. They came from
different denominations, and their denominational barriers were leveled to the
ground; conflicting creeds were shivered to atoms; the unscriptural hope of a
temporal millennium was abandoned; false views of the second advent were
corrected; pride and conformity to the world were swept away; wrongs were made
right; hearts were united in the sweetest fellowship; and love and joy reigned
supreme. If the doctrine did this for the few who did receive it, it would have
done the same for all if all had received it, but the message was rejected.
Everywhere throughout the land the cry was raised, "Babylon is fallen,"
and, in anticipation of the movement brought to view in Revelation 18: 1-4,
those proclaiming the message added, "Come out of her, My people." Thousands
severed their connection with the various denominations as the result.
A marked change then came over the churches in respect to their spiritual
condition. When a person refuses the light, he necessarily puts himself in
darkness; when he rejects truth, he inevitably forges the shackles of error
about his own limbs. Loss of spirituality--a spiritual fall--must follow. This
the churches experienced. They chose to adhere to old errors, and still
promulgate their false doctrines among the people. The light of truth therefore
left them.
Some of them felt and deplored the change. A few testimonies from their
writers describe their condition at that time, The Christian Palladium, in 1844,
spoke in the following mournful strain: "In every direction we hear the dolorous
wound, wafted upon every breeze of heaven, chilling as the blast from the
icebergs of the north, settling like an incubus on the breasts of the timid, and
drinking up the energies of the weak, the lukewarmness, division, anarchy, and
desolation are distressing the borders of Zion." [15]
In 1844, the Religious Telescope used the following language: "We have
never witnessed such a general declension of religion as at the present. . . .
When we call to mind how 'few and far between' cases of true conversion are, and
the almost unparalleled impenitence and hardness of sinners, we almost
involuntarily exclaim, 'Has God forgotten to be gracious? or is the door of
mercy closed?' " [16]
About that time, proclamations of fasts and seasons of prayer for the
return of the Holy Spirit were sent out in the religious papers. Even the
Philadelphia Sun, November, 1844, had the following: "The undersigned,
ministers, and members of various denominations in Philadelphia and vicinity,
solemnly believing that the present 'signs of the times'--the spiritual dearth
of our churches generally and the extreme evils in the world around us--seem to
call loudly on all Christians for a special season of prayer, do therefore
hereby agree, by divine permission, to unite in a week of special prayer to
Almighty God, for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit on our city, our country,
and the world." [17]
Charles G. Finney, well-known evangelist, said in February, 1844: "We
have had the facts before our minds, that, in general, the Protestant churches
of our country, as such, were either apathetic or hostile to nearly all the
moral reforms of the age. There are partial exceptions, yet not enough to render
the fact otherwise than general. We have also another corroborative fact--the
almost universal absence of revival influence in the churches. The spiritual
apathy is almost all-pervading, and is fearfully deep; so the religious press of
the whole land testifies. . . The churches generally are becoming sadly
degenerate. They have gone very far from the Lord, and He has withdrawn Himself
from them."
In November, 1844, the Oberlin Evangelist remarked editorially:
"Some of our religious journals deplore, and all attest the fact that
revivals have almost ceased in our churches. It is long since a period of so
general dearth has been known. There is a great revival of political spirit, and
of zeal in all the departments of business operations: but alas! decline and
death sit like an incubus on the bosom of Christian activity and of holy love
for God as for souls. The external forms of religion are sustained, the routine
of Sabbath duties goes on: but those seasons of 'refreshing from the presence of
the Lord,' in which fearfulness surprises the hypocrite, conviction fastens on
the sinner, and humble hearts cleave to the promises and wrestle for the
conversion of souls--those seasons are known only as they [are] held in sweet
remembrance--days that were, but are no longer." [18]
Not only did the churches suffer a distinct loss of spirituality in 1844,
but the decline since then has been marked and continuous.
The Congregationalist said in November, 1858: "The revived piety of our
churches is not such that one can confidently infer, from its mere existence,
its legitimate, practical fruits. It ought, for example, to be as certain, after
such a shower of grace, that the treasuries of our benevolent societies would be
filled, as it is after a plentiful rain that the streams will swell in their
channels. But the managers of our societies are bewailing the feebleness of the
sympathy and aid of the churches.
"There is another and sadder illustration of the same general truth. The
Watchman and Reflector recently stated that there had never been among the
Baptists so lamentable a spread of church dissension as prevails at present. . .
. Even a glance at the weekly journals of our own denomination will evince that
the evil is no means confined to the Baptists." [19]
The leading Methodist paper, the New York Christian Advocate, in 1883
contained an article from which we copy these statements:
"1. Disguise it as you like, the church, in a general sense, is spiritually
in a rapid decline. While it grows in number and money it is becoming extremely
feeble and limited in its spirituality, both in the pulpit and pew. It is
assuming the shape and character of the church of Laodicea.
"2. . . . There are thousands of ministers, local and conference, and many
thousands of the laity, who are dead and worthless as barren fig-trees. They
contribute nothing of a temporal or spiritual nature to the progress and
triumphs of the gospel throughout the earth. If all these dry bones in our
church and its congregations could be resurrected and brought into requisition
by faithful, active service, what new and glorious manifestations of divine
power would break forth!" [20]
The editor of the Western Christ Advocate in 1893 wrote the following of
his church:
"To the Church of Methodists, Write, the great trouble with us today is, that
the rescue of imperiled souls is our last and least consideration. Many of our
congregations are conducted on the basis of social clubs. They are made centers
of social influence. Membership is sought in order to advance one's prospects in
society, business, or politics. Preachers are called who know how to
" 'Smooth down the rugged text to ears polite, And snugly keep damnation out
of sight.'
"The Sunday services are made the occasion of displaying the elegancies of
apparel in the latest fashions. Even the little ones are tricked out as though
they were the acolytes of pride. If the 'Rules' are read, it is to comply with
the letter of a law whose spirit has long since fled. The class-books are filled
with names of unconverted men and women. Official members may be found in box,
dress-circle, and parquet of opera and theater. Communicants take in the races,
and give and attend cardparties and dances. The distinction between inside and
outside is so obscure that men smile when asked to unite with the Church, and
sometimes tell us that they find the best men outside.
"When we go to the masses, it is too often with such ostentatious
condescension that self-respect drives them from us.
"And yet we have so spread out, under the inflation of the rich and ungodly,
that they are a necessity to us. The enforcement of the unmistakable letter of
Discipline for a single year would cut our membership in half, bankrupt our
Missionary Society, close our fashionable churches, paralyze our connectional
interests, and leave our pastors and bishops unpaid and in distress. But the
fact remains, that one of two things must happen--the Discipline must purge the
church, or God's Holy Spirit will seek other organized agencies. The ax is laid
at the root of the tree. The call is to repentance. God's work must be done. If
we are in the way, He will remove us." [21]
The New York Independent of December 3, 1896, contained an article from
D. L. Moody, from which the following is an extract:
"In a recent issue of your paper I saw an article from a contributor which
stated that there were over three thousand churches in the Congregational and
Presbyterian bodies of this country that did not report a single member added by
profession of faith last year. Can this be true? The thought has taken such hold
of me that I can't get it out of my mind. It is enough almost to send a thrill
of horror through the soul of every true Christian.
"If this is the case with these two large denominations, what must be the
condition of the others also? Are we all going to sit still and let this thing
continue? Shall our religious newspapers and our pulpits keep their mouths
closed like 'dumb dogs that cannot bark' to warn people of approaching danger?
Should we not all lift up our voice like a trumpet about this matter? What must
the Son of God think of such a result of our labor as this? What must an
believing world think about a Christianity that can't bring forth any more
fruit? And have we no care for the multitudes of souls going down to perdition
every year while we all sit and look on? And this country of ours, where will it
be in the next ten years, if we don't awake out of sleep?" [22]
The state of spiritual declension into which the churches generally had
"fallen" as a result of their rejection of the first angel's message led to
their acceptance of erroneous and corrupt doctrines. In the latter part of the
nineteenth century a marked change was to be seen in the attitude of both
leaders and people of the Protestant churches toward the basic doctrines of the
Scriptures of truth. Having rejected the true, they accepted the false. The
theory of evolution accepted by many church leaders in the words of one great
religious writer "turned the Creator out of doors." A religious apologist for
the theory declared that "prayer is communion with my inner racial self."
The effects of the evolution theory on the faith of the churches is so
apparent that public comments upon the situation are commonplace. A professor of
philosophy in a great university remarks:
"Today it seems that the great Hebrew-Christian moral tradition, the most
ancient part of our heritage, is crumbling to pieces before our very eyes. . . .
The faith in science has grown so strong, so self-sufficient, so deeply rooted
in the processes of our society, that many of those who feel it have lost all
desire to combine it with any other. . . . The man who trusts a physical science
to describe the world finds no conceivable place into which to fit a deity. . .
. The philosophies that express their [men's] basic interests today are no
longer concerned, as they were in the nineteenth century, with vindicating a
belief in God and immortality. Those ideas have simply dropped out of any
serious attempt to reach an understanding of the world. . . . The present
conflict of religious faith with science is no longer with a scientific
explanation of the world, but with a scientific explanation of religion. The
really revolutionary effect of the scientific faith on religion today is not its
new view of the universe, but its new view of religion." [23]
What that new view of religion is, is frankly stated by a spokesman of
modern liberalism:
"Liberal Protestants have abandoned belief in the verbal infallibility of the
Bible." [24] "We believe that Jesus was a human being, not a supernatural being
different from all other men in quality. We believe that he was born in the
normal way, and that he faced the problems and the difficulties of life with no
secret reinforcements of miraculous power. . . . To us Jesus' death is, in
essence, no different from the death of other heroes." [25] "Today the ancient
belief that Jesus will reappear in the sky, inaugurate a dramatic world
judgment, sentence Satan and the demons to hell, and lead the angels and the
Christians into paradise, has dwindled from a universally accepted and
enormously influential Christian conviction to the esoteric doctrine of a
minority. Once a modern man accepts what historians tell him about the age of
the universe, and once he accepts what scientists tell him about the nature of
evolutionary process, he cannot believe that there will ever be any such
spectacular wind-up of the world's affairs as the one which the early Christians
believed would presently take place." [26] "We propose to take from the
Christianity of the past the elements which seem of abiding value, combine with
them the religious convictions and the ethical insights which have emerged
during the recent times, and from this composite material shape a new
formulation of the Christian message. We frankly admit that our gospel is not
the 'old gospel,' or even the modified version of the old gospel which is now
proclaimed in conservative pulpits. Ours is, we confess, a 'new gospel.' "
[27]
The acceptance by Protestantism of the first angel's message would have
enabled the church to become a light to "all nations." But betraying her trust
by her rejection of the message, she left the nations without the witness of
present truth that they might have had, to grope in the darkness of error and
superstition resulting from the intoxicating and stupefying influences of the
system of false doctrines she had built up and refused to relinquish.
Robert M. Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago, in speaking
of our spiritual condition, said: "We do not know where we are going, or why,
and we have almost given up the attempt to find out. We are in despair because
the keys which were to open the gates of heaven have let us into a larger but
more oppressive prison house. We think [thought] those keys were science and the
free intelligence of man. They have failed us. We have long since cast off God.
To what can we now appeal?" [28]
In its issue of May 24, 1941, the Philadelphia Inquirer editorially
attempts to analyze our condition: "We appear to have reached one of those
portentous periods in history when civilization halts and stands aghast in the
presence of forces too complex and too terrible in their potentialities
accurately to be appraised. Confronted by problems that can be disregarded by
none but lighthearted children and lightheaded fools, we have reached the
crossroads where every signpost points to bafflement. For years there have been
increasingly bitter assaults upon religion. We have felt it was not our concern
if 'the old faiths loosen and fall.' It would seem that in this, as in past
civilizations when they were nearing their inevitable end, we--and by 'we' is
meant mankind in general--have grown too cocksure of ourselves. . . .
"We have watched, many of us with scant misgivings, the growth of queer
cults and the recrudescence of pagan philosophies. Unperturbed, we have
witnessed the rise of modern Humanism, with its denial of a power greater than
our own; its exalting of man to equality with his Maker. Now, when civilization
may be dying on its feet, the barrage balloons of our self-sufficiency are in
process of being blasted out of the sky. Human creatures at last are beginning
to discover that they are not little gods--but only little men." [29]
But as the popular churches depart farther and farther from God, they at
length reach such a condition that true Christians can on longer maintain a
connection with them; and then they will be called out. This we look for in the
future, in fulfillment of Revelation 18: 1-4. We believe it will come, when, in
addition to their corruptions, the churches begin to raise against the saints
the hand of oppression.
*******
Today many don't belong to any known church. There are more break offs
from churches than ever before. People are forming more and more home churches.
People are searching for truths themselves and seeking to follow them without
any church authority involved. However, along with all the sincere truth seekers
Satan raises his own believers and more and more the lies are infiltrating the
truths and corrupting so much.
Wherever there are truths there will be lies to counteract that truth.
People being called to come out of Babylon, the apostate, Satan's ruled. Think
about it, if-- as history proves God's prophecy has unfolded. The prophecy's
were opened- the little book that was to be closed until the end was opened and
understood and it made those who received it disappointed- bitter in their
bellies. This happened, this is factual. The prophecies were opened and God's
people called to prophecy again. Christ didn't come in 1844 like they believed
it meant by the cleansing of the sanctuary, instead eyes were directed to the
heavenly sanctuary and the work being wrought there. The Day of Atonement, the
cleansing of the sanctuary was begun and as the Bible describes it was a lengthy
ceremony, the common people were to afflict their souls on the Day of Atonement,
fasting and praying while the priests and especially the high priest were very
busy making the atonement. They'd cleanse the Most Holy Place, then the Holy
Place, and then the outer court. The same will happen for us on a grand scale
that brings us to the moment in time where all that will be cleansed have been
cleansed and Christ's work will be over as High Priest and He will come again to
redeem those that have been sealed as His.
The truth of this message was given in 1844, a small group of people
formed a church that worked to spread the gospel message, the three angels
messages to the world. This was God's appointed church. As with Israel of
old (they became apostate choosing to follow fables of men rather than God truth
in Jesus and after a time the message was no longer sent to the Jews, but went
to the Gentiles) so too has the church given the message to be spread in 1844
become apostate. There is much proof of this - much proof and the cry to them
has gone out to come out of Babylon- the apostate church. So yes, the cry has
gone on and on and as the Bible tells us this is prior to the coming of the
Lord. All His true people, His true followers, His believers in heart and mind
will hear the call to come out and they will be ready.
May God bless and keep us in Him, true of heart, true of spirit in Him
blessed, called, chosen...ready for Him when He returns.
By His grace and by His will, by His love, by His mercy now and
always.
Amen
10/7/10
10/7/11
Were you alive in 1948? What about 1967? 1980?
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Gentiles the dictionary definition for this word is -
Gentile
GEN'TILE
In the scriptures, a pagan; a worshipper of false gods; any person not a Jew
or a christian; a heathen.
The biblical term "Israelites" (or the Twelve Tribes or Children of Israel)
means both a people (the descendants of the patriarch Jacob/Israel, and the
historical population of the kingdom of Israel), and a follower of the God of
Israel and Mosaic law.[3] In Modern Hebrew usage, an Israelite is, broadly
speaking, a lay member of the Jewish faith, as opposed to the priestly orders of
Kohenim and Levites.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites>
According to our Savior-
Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and
stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy
children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would
not!
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I
say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Jerusalem's house was LEFT desolate. Spiritually they denied God's Son. The
Israeli's alive in Christ's time as a corporate whole condemned Jesus Christ.
Because of their condemnation they were to be left spiritually desolate and this
became a reality--
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
In AD 70 the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
It wasn't until 1948 that Israeli's regained any sort of control over some of
the land that had once been theirs.
1948 Arab–Israeli War
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Jerusalem>
And in 1967 the Old City Jerusalem was recaptured by the Israeli's.
June 7: The Old City is captured by the IDF.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Jerusalem>
And in 1980 A law claiming Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel is
enacted.
The Jerusalem Law is a common name of Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of
Israel passed by the Knesset on July 30, 1980 (17th Av, 5740).
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Law>
And Jesus' words were--
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
So this leads us to only ONE conclusion the times of the Gentiles has been
fulfilled and it was fulfilled in OUR day!
*******
Now we need to ask ourselves a few questions- was there anything going on
between the Israeli-Jews and the Gentiles in Jesus' day and shortly there
after?
Let's just look at the way Jesus spoke of the Gentiles-
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put
on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not
much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to
day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof.
Mat 6:31...What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall
we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek)
Those who did NOT claim the Heavenly Father as their Heavenly Father worried
and thought constantly about eating, drinking, and clothing. Those who
claimed the Heavenly Father as their God should KNOW that God MUST come first in
all things- before food, before drink, before clothing. Obviously Jesus
was pointing out that those who made the claim of being Jews were in fact acting
like the Gentiles, acting as those who do NOT have a Heavenly Father who watches
over them.
It would be THOSE who do NOT have God as their Heavenly Father who would trod
down Jerusalem until that time was fulfilled.
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go
not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye
not:
Mat 10:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at
hand.
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Go not into the way of the Gentiles.
At this time Jesus did NOT want His apostles to go to the Gentiles.
They were to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus is making a distinction between Israeli's and the Gentiles. We can't
ignore this! Jesus gave the prophecy of Luke 21:24 for a reason, not just for
filler. NOTHING Jesus said was said just for it to be said offhandedly, nothing!
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be
ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils,
and in their synagogues they will scourge you;
Mat 10:18 yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my
sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. (RV)
Jesus told of a time when His followers would be brought before legal
authorities and why - for a testimony. Not just a testimony for those
authorities but for Gentiles as well. Gentiles would get to hear the
message of salvation through Jesus Christ, the gospel of the kingdom.
Mat 12:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the
prophet, saying,
Mat 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my
soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment
to the Gentiles.
HE SHALL SHEW JUDGEMENT TO THE GENTILES.
The Gentiles would be given a chance to understand salvation to know that
judgment would come to all even them.
Mat 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
Praise God. Do you see? While Jesus didn't send His apostles to the
Gentiles, the plan was for the good news to go to them in the time Jesus
allowed.
Mat 20:17 And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples
apart in the way, and said unto them,
Mat 20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be
betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him
to death,
Mat 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to
scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Jesus knew His fate at the hands of the Gentiles- delivered by the Israeli
chief priest and scribes.
uk 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was
Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luk 2:26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should
not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Luk 2:27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the
parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Luk 2:28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Luk 2:29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according
to thy word:
Luk 2:30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Luk 2:31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
Luk 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people
Israel.
A LIGHT to lighten the Gentiles!
Joh 7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you,
and then I go unto him that sent me.
Joh 7:34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am,
thither ye cannot come.
Joh 7:35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that
we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and
teach the Gentiles?
The followers of Christ couldn't fully comprehend going to the Gentiles to
preach the message of God. The Gentiles were NOT Jews, they were NOT the chosen
people of God. To these men Jesus going to preach to the Gentiles was somewhere
He could go that they couldn't imagine going with Him.
Act 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they
took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them,
they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the
council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a
notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in
Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us
straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all
nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be
right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and
heard.
Act 4:21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go,
finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men
glorified God for that which was done.
Act 4:22 For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of
healing was shewed.
Act 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported
all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
Act 4:24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to
God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Act 4:25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the
heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast
anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done.
Act 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy
servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Still the apostles were preaching to the lost sheep of Israel and not to the
Gentiles.
Act 6:9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the
synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of
Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
Act 6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by
which he spake.
Act 6:11 Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak
blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
Act 6:12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the
scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
Act 6:13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not
to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
Act 6:14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall
destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
Act 6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him,
saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
Act 7:1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
Act 7:2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of
glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he
dwelt in Charran,
Act 7:3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
Act 7:4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in
Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this
land, wherein ye now dwell.
Act 7:5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to
set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession,
and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
Act 7:6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a
strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them
evil four hundred years.
Act 7:7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge,
said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
Act 7:8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham
begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and
Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
Act 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt:
but God was with him,
Act 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him
favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him
governor over Egypt and all his house.
Act 7:11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and
Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
Act 7:12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out
our fathers first.
Act 7:13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren;
and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
Act 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all
his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
Act 7:15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
Act 7:16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre
that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of
Sychem.
Act 7:17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had
sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
Act 7:18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
Act 7:19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated
our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might
not live.
Act 7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and
nourished up in his father's house three months:
Act 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and
nourished him for her own son.
Act 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and
was mighty in words and in deeds.
Act 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart
to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Act 7:24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and
avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
Act 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that
God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Act 7:26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove,
and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye
wrong one to another?
Act 7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying,
Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Act 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
Act 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land
of Madian, where he begat two sons.
Act 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in
the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
Act 7:31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew
near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
Act 7:32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not
behold.
Act 7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet:
for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
Act 7:34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is
in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And
now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
Act 7:35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler
and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of
the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Act 7:36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and
signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty
years.
Act 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto
me; him shall ye hear.
Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the
angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received
the lively oracles to give unto us:
Act 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them,
and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Act 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for
this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become
of him.
Act 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto
the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Act 7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of
heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have
ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the
wilderness?
Act 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your
god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away
beyond Babylon.
Act 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness,
as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to
the fashion that he had seen.
Act 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with
Jesus(Joshua) into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the
face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Act 7:46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle
for the God of Jacob.
Act 7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house
will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Act 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
Act 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do
always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and
they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom
ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Act 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and
have not kept it.
Act 7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and
they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly
into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of
God,
Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears,
and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the
witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay
not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen martyred, Stephen's last words declaring that the Gentiles were
driven out by God by Joshua- a history lesson for the Israelis proving that
their own written word of God revealed their rejections of the prophets time and
time again.
Act 9:11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street
which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul,
of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
Act 9:12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and
putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Act 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man,
how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Act 9:14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all
that call on thy name.
Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children
of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my
name's sake.
After Saul of Tarsus took part in the stoning of Stephen, holding the coats
of the men who killed him, he had an encounter with Jesus that changed him from
a persecutor of those who followed Jesus to a devout servant of Jesus.
Ananias knew of Saul of Tarsus and knew he wasn't a Christian and the Lord told
him pointedly… He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the
GENTILES and kings, and the children of Israel. The word was to go
to the Gentiles! The Israelis, the chosen of God, the Jewish people had rejected
the word and the word would now go to the Gentiles by one of their own converted
by the love of Jesus.
Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all
them which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished,
as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the
gift of the Holy Ghost.
The Gentiles were now receiving Christ proven beyond a doubt in the presence
of many as they too received the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 11:1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that
the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and
glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life.
Act 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Act 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it
from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles.
Act 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to
be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth.
FIRST the world of God was given to the Jews, but they rejected it! NEXT the
word of God was to go to the Gentiles. This was God's plan! There would be
a time allotted to the Gentiles to hear the word of God and that time would be
up, just as Jesus foretold- remember?
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
God does all things in order, not haphazardly, we can't believe that God is a
God of chaos and flights of fancy- we can't humanize God. We can't put our
failings on Him. He has foretold what would happen, thousands of years ago and
we are allowed to see the signs of the times. This sign- of Jerusalem being
trodden down of the Gentiles- and they were for 19 centuries- has been
fulfilled. Jerusalem is NO longer trod down by the Gentiles.
The message that was to go to them has been given. Just as the message was
given for an allotted time to the Jews and they put it from them. So, if
the Jews and the Gentiles have had time to receive the message of Salvation
through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior- what remains?
Luk 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and
the waves roaring;
Luk 21:26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after
those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken.
Luk 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory.
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up,
and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Since 1980 - 31 years ago now we've been living in this end time where all
the last prophecies will be fulfilled and our LORD WILL RETURN! We can't
ignore all this, we CAN'T! But then again- many will, most will, and it's
heart breaking!
By the grace of God may we keep our eyes opened watching!
By the grace of God may we keep praying always!
All by the grace of God may be ready for Him when He returns! May He KNOW us!
Please Lord, know us!
By His love, through His righteousness always!
Amen.
Were you alive in 1948? What about 1967? 1980?
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Gentiles the dictionary definition for this word is -
Gentile
GEN'TILE
In the scriptures, a pagan; a worshipper of false gods; any person not a Jew
or a christian; a heathen.
The biblical term "Israelites" (or the Twelve Tribes or Children of Israel)
means both a people (the descendants of the patriarch Jacob/Israel, and the
historical population of the kingdom of Israel), and a follower of the God of
Israel and Mosaic law.[3] In Modern Hebrew usage, an Israelite is, broadly
speaking, a lay member of the Jewish faith, as opposed to the priestly orders of
Kohenim and Levites.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites>
According to our Savior-
Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and
stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy
children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would
not!
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I
say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Jerusalem's house was LEFT desolate. Spiritually they denied God's Son. The
Israeli's alive in Christ's time as a corporate whole condemned Jesus Christ.
Because of their condemnation they were to be left spiritually desolate and this
became a reality--
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
In AD 70 the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
It wasn't until 1948 that Israeli's regained any sort of control over some of
the land that had once been theirs.
1948 Arab–Israeli War
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Jerusalem>
And in 1967 the Old City Jerusalem was recaptured by the Israeli's.
June 7: The Old City is captured by the IDF.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Jerusalem>
And in 1980 A law claiming Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel is
enacted.
The Jerusalem Law is a common name of Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of
Israel passed by the Knesset on July 30, 1980 (17th Av, 5740).
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Law>
And Jesus' words were--
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
So this leads us to only ONE conclusion the times of the Gentiles has been
fulfilled and it was fulfilled in OUR day!
*******
Now we need to ask ourselves a few questions- was there anything going on
between the Israeli-Jews and the Gentiles in Jesus' day and shortly there
after?
Let's just look at the way Jesus spoke of the Gentiles-
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put
on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not
much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to
day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof.
Mat 6:31...What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall
we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek)
Those who did NOT claim the Heavenly Father as their Heavenly Father worried
and thought constantly about eating, drinking, and clothing. Those who
claimed the Heavenly Father as their God should KNOW that God MUST come first in
all things- before food, before drink, before clothing. Obviously Jesus
was pointing out that those who made the claim of being Jews were in fact acting
like the Gentiles, acting as those who do NOT have a Heavenly Father who watches
over them.
It would be THOSE who do NOT have God as their Heavenly Father who would trod
down Jerusalem until that time was fulfilled.
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go
not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye
not:
Mat 10:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at
hand.
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Go not into the way of the Gentiles.
At this time Jesus did NOT want His apostles to go to the Gentiles.
They were to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus is making a distinction between Israeli's and the Gentiles. We can't
ignore this! Jesus gave the prophecy of Luke 21:24 for a reason, not just for
filler. NOTHING Jesus said was said just for it to be said offhandedly, nothing!
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be
ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils,
and in their synagogues they will scourge you;
Mat 10:18 yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my
sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. (RV)
Jesus told of a time when His followers would be brought before legal
authorities and why - for a testimony. Not just a testimony for those
authorities but for Gentiles as well. Gentiles would get to hear the
message of salvation through Jesus Christ, the gospel of the kingdom.
Mat 12:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the
prophet, saying,
Mat 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my
soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment
to the Gentiles.
HE SHALL SHEW JUDGEMENT TO THE GENTILES.
The Gentiles would be given a chance to understand salvation to know that
judgment would come to all even them.
Mat 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
Praise God. Do you see? While Jesus didn't send His apostles to the
Gentiles, the plan was for the good news to go to them in the time Jesus
allowed.
Mat 20:17 And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples
apart in the way, and said unto them,
Mat 20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be
betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him
to death,
Mat 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to
scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Jesus knew His fate at the hands of the Gentiles- delivered by the Israeli
chief priest and scribes.
uk 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was
Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luk 2:26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should
not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Luk 2:27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the
parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Luk 2:28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Luk 2:29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according
to thy word:
Luk 2:30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Luk 2:31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
Luk 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people
Israel.
A LIGHT to lighten the Gentiles!
Joh 7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you,
and then I go unto him that sent me.
Joh 7:34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am,
thither ye cannot come.
Joh 7:35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that
we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and
teach the Gentiles?
The followers of Christ couldn't fully comprehend going to the Gentiles to
preach the message of God. The Gentiles were NOT Jews, they were NOT the chosen
people of God. To these men Jesus going to preach to the Gentiles was somewhere
He could go that they couldn't imagine going with Him.
Act 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they
took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them,
they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the
council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a
notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in
Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us
straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all
nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be
right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and
heard.
Act 4:21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go,
finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men
glorified God for that which was done.
Act 4:22 For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of
healing was shewed.
Act 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported
all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
Act 4:24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to
God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Act 4:25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the
heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast
anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done.
Act 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy
servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Still the apostles were preaching to the lost sheep of Israel and not to the
Gentiles.
Act 6:9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the
synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of
Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
Act 6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by
which he spake.
Act 6:11 Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak
blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
Act 6:12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the
scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
Act 6:13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not
to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
Act 6:14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall
destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
Act 6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him,
saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
Act 7:1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
Act 7:2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of
glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he
dwelt in Charran,
Act 7:3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
Act 7:4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in
Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this
land, wherein ye now dwell.
Act 7:5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to
set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession,
and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
Act 7:6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a
strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them
evil four hundred years.
Act 7:7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge,
said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
Act 7:8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham
begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and
Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
Act 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt:
but God was with him,
Act 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him
favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him
governor over Egypt and all his house.
Act 7:11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and
Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
Act 7:12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out
our fathers first.
Act 7:13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren;
and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
Act 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all
his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
Act 7:15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
Act 7:16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre
that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of
Sychem.
Act 7:17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had
sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
Act 7:18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
Act 7:19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated
our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might
not live.
Act 7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and
nourished up in his father's house three months:
Act 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and
nourished him for her own son.
Act 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and
was mighty in words and in deeds.
Act 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart
to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Act 7:24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and
avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
Act 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that
God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Act 7:26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove,
and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye
wrong one to another?
Act 7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying,
Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Act 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
Act 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land
of Madian, where he begat two sons.
Act 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in
the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
Act 7:31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew
near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
Act 7:32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not
behold.
Act 7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet:
for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
Act 7:34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is
in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And
now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
Act 7:35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler
and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of
the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Act 7:36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and
signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty
years.
Act 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto
me; him shall ye hear.
Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the
angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received
the lively oracles to give unto us:
Act 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them,
and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Act 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for
this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become
of him.
Act 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto
the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Act 7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of
heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have
ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the
wilderness?
Act 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your
god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away
beyond Babylon.
Act 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness,
as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to
the fashion that he had seen.
Act 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with
Jesus(Joshua) into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the
face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Act 7:46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle
for the God of Jacob.
Act 7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house
will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Act 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
Act 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do
always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and
they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom
ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Act 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and
have not kept it.
Act 7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and
they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly
into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of
God,
Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears,
and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the
witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay
not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen martyred, Stephen's last words declaring that the Gentiles were
driven out by God by Joshua- a history lesson for the Israelis proving that
their own written word of God revealed their rejections of the prophets time and
time again.
Act 9:11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street
which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul,
of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
Act 9:12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and
putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Act 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man,
how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Act 9:14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all
that call on thy name.
Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children
of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my
name's sake.
After Saul of Tarsus took part in the stoning of Stephen, holding the coats
of the men who killed him, he had an encounter with Jesus that changed him from
a persecutor of those who followed Jesus to a devout servant of Jesus.
Ananias knew of Saul of Tarsus and knew he wasn't a Christian and the Lord told
him pointedly… He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the
GENTILES and kings, and the children of Israel. The word was to go
to the Gentiles! The Israelis, the chosen of God, the Jewish people had rejected
the word and the word would now go to the Gentiles by one of their own converted
by the love of Jesus.
Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all
them which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished,
as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the
gift of the Holy Ghost.
The Gentiles were now receiving Christ proven beyond a doubt in the presence
of many as they too received the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 11:1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that
the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and
glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life.
Act 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Act 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it
from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles.
Act 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to
be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth.
FIRST the world of God was given to the Jews, but they rejected it! NEXT the
word of God was to go to the Gentiles. This was God's plan! There would be
a time allotted to the Gentiles to hear the word of God and that time would be
up, just as Jesus foretold- remember?
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
God does all things in order, not haphazardly, we can't believe that God is a
God of chaos and flights of fancy- we can't humanize God. We can't put our
failings on Him. He has foretold what would happen, thousands of years ago and
we are allowed to see the signs of the times. This sign- of Jerusalem being
trodden down of the Gentiles- and they were for 19 centuries- has been
fulfilled. Jerusalem is NO longer trod down by the Gentiles.
The message that was to go to them has been given. Just as the message was
given for an allotted time to the Jews and they put it from them. So, if
the Jews and the Gentiles have had time to receive the message of Salvation
through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior- what remains?
Luk 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and
the waves roaring;
Luk 21:26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after
those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken.
Luk 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory.
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up,
and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Since 1980 - 31 years ago now we've been living in this end time where all
the last prophecies will be fulfilled and our LORD WILL RETURN! We can't
ignore all this, we CAN'T! But then again- many will, most will, and it's
heart breaking!
By the grace of God may we keep our eyes opened watching!
By the grace of God may we keep praying always!
All by the grace of God may be ready for Him when He returns! May He KNOW us!
Please Lord, know us!
By His love, through His righteousness always!
Amen.
Ecclesiastes
{12:8} Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all [is] vanity.
**
Vanity-
1. The quality or condition
of being vain.
2.
Excessive pride in one's appearance or accomplishments; conceit. See synonyms at
conceit.
3. Lack of usefulness, worth,
or effect; worthlessness.
vain-
1. Not yielding the desired
outcome; fruitless: a vain attempt.
2. Lacking substance or
worth: vain talk.
3.
Excessively proud of one's appearance or accomplishments; conceited.
4. Archaic.
Foolish.
Vanity of vanities-
Uselessness of the useless?
Conceitedness of the conceited?
Worthlessness of the worthless?
Foolishness of the foolish?
All is vanity-
All is useless, conceited, worthless, foolish?
Even though all is foolishness, the preacher was wise. He taught knowledge,
he listened and sought many proverbs putting them in order.
{12:9} And moreover, because the preacher was
wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave
good heed, and sought out, [and] set in order many
proverbs.
The preacher looked for acceptable words, good words of truth.
{12:10} The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words: and [that which was] written [was]
upright, [even] words of truth.
The words of the wise are tools of a master, given from one who cares for His
flock.
{12:11} The words of the
wise [are] as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of
assemblies, [which] are given from one shepherd.
By those tools, those words be admonished- you could write forever, study for
ever, and grow weary of it all being consumed by everything.
{12:12}
And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making
many books [there is] no end; and much study [is] a
weariness of the flesh.
What's the end of the entire matter? What is most important of all the words,
all the studying?
{12:13} Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter...
Give reverence and respect to God and keep His commandments, this is the
entire duty of man.
{12:13}Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the
whole [duty] of man.
Everything we do, EVERYTHING we do good or evil will be judged.
{12:14} For God shall bring every
work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether [it be]
good, or whether [it be] evil.
**
Talk all you want, study all you want, write all you want, in the end
what matters is our duty to God. The duty that Jesus gave us as an example of
His life.
No, we can't all be apostles, or teachers, or prophets etc. We can't
all be preachers. People are needed for a lot of things. There are shepherds for
sheep, farmers for the crops, basic jobs that are timeless even if technology as
advanced many of their jobs. All sorts of jobs are needed for people to survive-
needed back in Jesus' day, needed in our day. We can't all shun labor and simply
study, life doesn't work that way for most of us, not that it isn't the right
thing for some people, just not all the people. We can't assume our walk with
God isn't strong and good, just because we're not monks, or nuns, or
missionaries, preachers, pastors, etc. Yes, Jesus called laborers from their
work- tax collector, fishermen, and down the line physicians, tentmakers and
such. He told people to follow Him and this was good. He was God with us and His
time on earth needed to be seen and memorized by many to bear witness of Him and
His life.
Jesus didn't come to do away with God's commandments. He came to show
they could be kept, His life bore testament to the commandments and to the duty
of man. Reverence to His Father, and the keeping of His Father's commandments,
which are just and good and born of love.
In all we do, no matter what our walk in life, a hated job we drudge
through day after day, a life of misery born of emotional strain, it doesn't
matter what we do but while we do whatever task life has for us we have to Fear
God and keep His commandments. Everything we do will be judged. EVERYTHING. You
can't hide a single thought from God. Not a single action is hidden from Him.
Our hearts, our lives are open to Him.
May God bless us all as we live day to day. May we all holdfast to our
duty as human beings, the duty we have to give reverence to God and to keep His
commandments, which are summed up in loving Him and loving our fellow man, which
are selfless. In a world where we are taught to look out for number one, to look
our just for ourselves as if what we desired and want matter more than anything
else, help us God, help us to see past the trap of selfishness, of self-focus
and to You and others as Your commands to us are.
Thy will God, Thy will, not our will... be done by the grace and mercy
of Jesus.
Amen.
10/07/09
Application of the Fall of Babylon.--
To come now more particularly to the application of the prophecy
concerning the fall of Babylon, let us see how the religious world stood with
reference to the possibility of such a change when the time came for the
proclamation of such a change when the time came for the proclamation of this
second message in connection with the first about the year 1844. Paganism was
only apostasy and corruption in the beginning, and is so still. No spiritual
fall is possible there. Roman Catholicism had been in a fallen condition for
many centuries. But the Protestant churches had begun the great work of
reformation from papal corruption and had done noble work. They were, in a word,
in such a position that with them a spiritual fall was possible. The conclusion
is therefore inevitable that the message announcing the fall had reference
almost wholly to the Protestant churches.
The question may then be asked why this announcement was not made sooner,
if so large a part of Babylon had been so long fallen. The answer is at hand:
Babylon as a whole could not be said to be fallen so long as one division of it
remained unfallen. It could not be announced, therefore, until a change for the
worse came over the Protestant world, and the truth through which alone the path
of progress lay, had been compromised. When this took place, and a spiritual
fall was experienced in this last branch, then the announcement concerning
Babylon as a whole could be made, as it could not have been made
before--"Babylon is fallen."
It may be proper to inquire further how the reason assigned for the fall
of Babylon--that she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication--would apply to the Protestant churches at the time in question. The
answer is, It would apply most pertinently. The fault with Babylon lies in her
confusion of the truth and her consequent false doctrines. Because she
industriously propagates these, clinging to them when light and truth which
would correct them is offered, she is in a fallen state.
With the Protestant churches, the time had come for an advance to higher
religious ground. They could accept the proffered light and truth, and reach the
higher attainment, or they could reject it, and lose their spirituality and
favor with God, or, in other words, experience a spiritual fall.
The truth which God saw fit to use as an instrument in this work was the
first angel's message. The hour of God's judgment come, and with it the imminent
second advent of Christ, was the doctrine preached. After listening long enough
to see the blessing that attended the doctrine, and the good results that
accrued from it, the churches as a whole rejected it with scorn and scoffing.
They were thereby tested, for they then plainly betrayed the fact that their
hearts were with the world, not with the Lord, and that they preferred to have
it so.
But the message would have healed the evils then existing in the
religious world. The prophet exclaims, perhaps with reference to this time, "We
would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed." Jeremiah 51: 9. Do you ask
how we know this would have been the effect of receiving the message? We answer,
Because this was the effect with all who did receive it. They came from
different denominations, and their denominational barriers were leveled to the
ground; conflicting creeds were shivered to atoms; the unscriptural hope of a
temporal millennium was abandoned; false views of the second advent were
corrected; pride and conformity to the world were swept away; wrongs were made
right; hearts were united in the sweetest fellowship; and love and joy reigned
supreme. If the doctrine did this for the few who did receive it, it would have
done the same for all if all had received it, but the message was rejected.
Everywhere throughout the land the cry was raised, "Babylon is fallen,"
and, in anticipation of the movement brought to view in Revelation 18: 1-4,
those proclaiming the message added, "Come out of her, My people." Thousands
severed their connection with the various denominations as the result.
A marked change then came over the churches in respect to their spiritual
condition. When a person refuses the light, he necessarily puts himself in
darkness; when he rejects truth, he inevitably forges the shackles of error
about his own limbs. Loss of spirituality--a spiritual fall--must follow. This
the churches experienced. They chose to adhere to old errors, and still
promulgate their false doctrines among the people. The light of truth therefore
left them.
Some of them felt and deplored the change. A few testimonies from their
writers describe their condition at that time, The Christian Palladium, in 1844,
spoke in the following mournful strain: "In every direction we hear the dolorous
wound, wafted upon every breeze of heaven, chilling as the blast from the
icebergs of the north, settling like an incubus on the breasts of the timid, and
drinking up the energies of the weak, the lukewarmness, division, anarchy, and
desolation are distressing the borders of Zion." [15]
In 1844, the Religious Telescope used the following language: "We have
never witnessed such a general declension of religion as at the present. . . .
When we call to mind how 'few and far between' cases of true conversion are, and
the almost unparalleled impenitence and hardness of sinners, we almost
involuntarily exclaim, 'Has God forgotten to be gracious? or is the door of
mercy closed?' " [16]
About that time, proclamations of fasts and seasons of prayer for the
return of the Holy Spirit were sent out in the religious papers. Even the
Philadelphia Sun, November, 1844, had the following: "The undersigned,
ministers, and members of various denominations in Philadelphia and vicinity,
solemnly believing that the present 'signs of the times'--the spiritual dearth
of our churches generally and the extreme evils in the world around us--seem to
call loudly on all Christians for a special season of prayer, do therefore
hereby agree, by divine permission, to unite in a week of special prayer to
Almighty God, for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit on our city, our country,
and the world." [17]
Charles G. Finney, well-known evangelist, said in February, 1844: "We
have had the facts before our minds, that, in general, the Protestant churches
of our country, as such, were either apathetic or hostile to nearly all the
moral reforms of the age. There are partial exceptions, yet not enough to render
the fact otherwise than general. We have also another corroborative fact--the
almost universal absence of revival influence in the churches. The spiritual
apathy is almost all-pervading, and is fearfully deep; so the religious press of
the whole land testifies. . . The churches generally are becoming sadly
degenerate. They have gone very far from the Lord, and He has withdrawn Himself
from them."
In November, 1844, the Oberlin Evangelist remarked editorially:
"Some of our religious journals deplore, and all attest the fact that
revivals have almost ceased in our churches. It is long since a period of so
general dearth has been known. There is a great revival of political spirit, and
of zeal in all the departments of business operations: but alas! decline and
death sit like an incubus on the bosom of Christian activity and of holy love
for God as for souls. The external forms of religion are sustained, the routine
of Sabbath duties goes on: but those seasons of 'refreshing from the presence of
the Lord,' in which fearfulness surprises the hypocrite, conviction fastens on
the sinner, and humble hearts cleave to the promises and wrestle for the
conversion of souls--those seasons are known only as they [are] held in sweet
remembrance--days that were, but are no longer." [18]
Not only did the churches suffer a distinct loss of spirituality in 1844,
but the decline since then has been marked and continuous.
The Congregationalist said in November, 1858: "The revived piety of our
churches is not such that one can confidently infer, from its mere existence,
its legitimate, practical fruits. It ought, for example, to be as certain, after
such a shower of grace, that the treasuries of our benevolent societies would be
filled, as it is after a plentiful rain that the streams will swell in their
channels. But the managers of our societies are bewailing the feebleness of the
sympathy and aid of the churches.
"There is another and sadder illustration of the same general truth. The
Watchman and Reflector recently stated that there had never been among the
Baptists so lamentable a spread of church dissension as prevails at present. . .
. Even a glance at the weekly journals of our own denomination will evince that
the evil is no means confined to the Baptists." [19]
The leading Methodist paper, the New York Christian Advocate, in 1883
contained an article from which we copy these statements:
"1. Disguise it as you like, the church, in a general sense, is spiritually
in a rapid decline. While it grows in number and money it is becoming extremely
feeble and limited in its spirituality, both in the pulpit and pew. It is
assuming the shape and character of the church of Laodicea.
"2. . . . There are thousands of ministers, local and conference, and many
thousands of the laity, who are dead and worthless as barren fig-trees. They
contribute nothing of a temporal or spiritual nature to the progress and
triumphs of the gospel throughout the earth. If all these dry bones in our
church and its congregations could be resurrected and brought into requisition
by faithful, active service, what new and glorious manifestations of divine
power would break forth!" [20]
The editor of the Western Christ Advocate in 1893 wrote the following of
his church:
"To the Church of Methodists, Write, the great trouble with us today is, that
the rescue of imperiled souls is our last and least consideration. Many of our
congregations are conducted on the basis of social clubs. They are made centers
of social influence. Membership is sought in order to advance one's prospects in
society, business, or politics. Preachers are called who know how to
" 'Smooth down the rugged text to ears polite, And snugly keep damnation out
of sight.'
"The Sunday services are made the occasion of displaying the elegancies of
apparel in the latest fashions. Even the little ones are tricked out as though
they were the acolytes of pride. If the 'Rules' are read, it is to comply with
the letter of a law whose spirit has long since fled. The class-books are filled
with names of unconverted men and women. Official members may be found in box,
dress-circle, and parquet of opera and theater. Communicants take in the races,
and give and attend cardparties and dances. The distinction between inside and
outside is so obscure that men smile when asked to unite with the Church, and
sometimes tell us that they find the best men outside.
"When we go to the masses, it is too often with such ostentatious
condescension that self-respect drives them from us.
"And yet we have so spread out, under the inflation of the rich and ungodly,
that they are a necessity to us. The enforcement of the unmistakable letter of
Discipline for a single year would cut our membership in half, bankrupt our
Missionary Society, close our fashionable churches, paralyze our connectional
interests, and leave our pastors and bishops unpaid and in distress. But the
fact remains, that one of two things must happen--the Discipline must purge the
church, or God's Holy Spirit will seek other organized agencies. The ax is laid
at the root of the tree. The call is to repentance. God's work must be done. If
we are in the way, He will remove us." [21]
The New York Independent of December 3, 1896, contained an article from
D. L. Moody, from which the following is an extract:
"In a recent issue of your paper I saw an article from a contributor which
stated that there were over three thousand churches in the Congregational and
Presbyterian bodies of this country that did not report a single member added by
profession of faith last year. Can this be true? The thought has taken such hold
of me that I can't get it out of my mind. It is enough almost to send a thrill
of horror through the soul of every true Christian.
"If this is the case with these two large denominations, what must be the
condition of the others also? Are we all going to sit still and let this thing
continue? Shall our religious newspapers and our pulpits keep their mouths
closed like 'dumb dogs that cannot bark' to warn people of approaching danger?
Should we not all lift up our voice like a trumpet about this matter? What must
the Son of God think of such a result of our labor as this? What must an
believing world think about a Christianity that can't bring forth any more
fruit? And have we no care for the multitudes of souls going down to perdition
every year while we all sit and look on? And this country of ours, where will it
be in the next ten years, if we don't awake out of sleep?" [22]
The state of spiritual declension into which the churches generally had
"fallen" as a result of their rejection of the first angel's message led to
their acceptance of erroneous and corrupt doctrines. In the latter part of the
nineteenth century a marked change was to be seen in the attitude of both
leaders and people of the Protestant churches toward the basic doctrines of the
Scriptures of truth. Having rejected the true, they accepted the false. The
theory of evolution accepted by many church leaders in the words of one great
religious writer "turned the Creator out of doors." A religious apologist for
the theory declared that "prayer is communion with my inner racial self."
The effects of the evolution theory on the faith of the churches is so
apparent that public comments upon the situation are commonplace. A professor of
philosophy in a great university remarks:
"Today it seems that the great Hebrew-Christian moral tradition, the most
ancient part of our heritage, is crumbling to pieces before our very eyes. . . .
The faith in science has grown so strong, so self-sufficient, so deeply rooted
in the processes of our society, that many of those who feel it have lost all
desire to combine it with any other. . . . The man who trusts a physical science
to describe the world finds no conceivable place into which to fit a deity. . .
. The philosophies that express their [men's] basic interests today are no
longer concerned, as they were in the nineteenth century, with vindicating a
belief in God and immortality. Those ideas have simply dropped out of any
serious attempt to reach an understanding of the world. . . . The present
conflict of religious faith with science is no longer with a scientific
explanation of the world, but with a scientific explanation of religion. The
really revolutionary effect of the scientific faith on religion today is not its
new view of the universe, but its new view of religion." [23]
What that new view of religion is, is frankly stated by a spokesman of
modern liberalism:
"Liberal Protestants have abandoned belief in the verbal infallibility of the
Bible." [24] "We believe that Jesus was a human being, not a supernatural being
different from all other men in quality. We believe that he was born in the
normal way, and that he faced the problems and the difficulties of life with no
secret reinforcements of miraculous power. . . . To us Jesus' death is, in
essence, no different from the death of other heroes." [25] "Today the ancient
belief that Jesus will reappear in the sky, inaugurate a dramatic world
judgment, sentence Satan and the demons to hell, and lead the angels and the
Christians into paradise, has dwindled from a universally accepted and
enormously influential Christian conviction to the esoteric doctrine of a
minority. Once a modern man accepts what historians tell him about the age of
the universe, and once he accepts what scientists tell him about the nature of
evolutionary process, he cannot believe that there will ever be any such
spectacular wind-up of the world's affairs as the one which the early Christians
believed would presently take place." [26] "We propose to take from the
Christianity of the past the elements which seem of abiding value, combine with
them the religious convictions and the ethical insights which have emerged
during the recent times, and from this composite material shape a new
formulation of the Christian message. We frankly admit that our gospel is not
the 'old gospel,' or even the modified version of the old gospel which is now
proclaimed in conservative pulpits. Ours is, we confess, a 'new gospel.' "
[27]
The acceptance by Protestantism of the first angel's message would have
enabled the church to become a light to "all nations." But betraying her trust
by her rejection of the message, she left the nations without the witness of
present truth that they might have had, to grope in the darkness of error and
superstition resulting from the intoxicating and stupefying influences of the
system of false doctrines she had built up and refused to relinquish.
Robert M. Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago, in speaking
of our spiritual condition, said: "We do not know where we are going, or why,
and we have almost given up the attempt to find out. We are in despair because
the keys which were to open the gates of heaven have let us into a larger but
more oppressive prison house. We think [thought] those keys were science and the
free intelligence of man. They have failed us. We have long since cast off God.
To what can we now appeal?" [28]
In its issue of May 24, 1941, the Philadelphia Inquirer editorially
attempts to analyze our condition: "We appear to have reached one of those
portentous periods in history when civilization halts and stands aghast in the
presence of forces too complex and too terrible in their potentialities
accurately to be appraised. Confronted by problems that can be disregarded by
none but lighthearted children and lightheaded fools, we have reached the
crossroads where every signpost points to bafflement. For years there have been
increasingly bitter assaults upon religion. We have felt it was not our concern
if 'the old faiths loosen and fall.' It would seem that in this, as in past
civilizations when they were nearing their inevitable end, we--and by 'we' is
meant mankind in general--have grown too cocksure of ourselves. . . .
"We have watched, many of us with scant misgivings, the growth of queer
cults and the recrudescence of pagan philosophies. Unperturbed, we have
witnessed the rise of modern Humanism, with its denial of a power greater than
our own; its exalting of man to equality with his Maker. Now, when civilization
may be dying on its feet, the barrage balloons of our self-sufficiency are in
process of being blasted out of the sky. Human creatures at last are beginning
to discover that they are not little gods--but only little men." [29]
But as the popular churches depart farther and farther from God, they at
length reach such a condition that true Christians can on longer maintain a
connection with them; and then they will be called out. This we look for in the
future, in fulfillment of Revelation 18: 1-4. We believe it will come, when, in
addition to their corruptions, the churches begin to raise against the saints
the hand of oppression.
*******
Today many don't belong to any known church. There are more break offs
from churches than ever before. People are forming more and more home churches.
People are searching for truths themselves and seeking to follow them without
any church authority involved. However, along with all the sincere truth seekers
Satan raises his own believers and more and more the lies are infiltrating the
truths and corrupting so much.
Wherever there are truths there will be lies to counteract that truth.
People being called to come out of Babylon, the apostate, Satan's ruled. Think
about it, if-- as history proves God's prophecy has unfolded. The prophecy's
were opened- the little book that was to be closed until the end was opened and
understood and it made those who received it disappointed- bitter in their
bellies. This happened, this is factual. The prophecies were opened and God's
people called to prophecy again. Christ didn't come in 1844 like they believed
it meant by the cleansing of the sanctuary, instead eyes were directed to the
heavenly sanctuary and the work being wrought there. The Day of Atonement, the
cleansing of the sanctuary was begun and as the Bible describes it was a lengthy
ceremony, the common people were to afflict their souls on the Day of Atonement,
fasting and praying while the priests and especially the high priest were very
busy making the atonement. They'd cleanse the Most Holy Place, then the Holy
Place, and then the outer court. The same will happen for us on a grand scale
that brings us to the moment in time where all that will be cleansed have been
cleansed and Christ's work will be over as High Priest and He will come again to
redeem those that have been sealed as His.
The truth of this message was given in 1844, a small group of people
formed a church that worked to spread the gospel message, the three angels
messages to the world. This was God's appointed church. As with Israel of
old (they became apostate choosing to follow fables of men rather than God truth
in Jesus and after a time the message was no longer sent to the Jews, but went
to the Gentiles) so too has the church given the message to be spread in 1844
become apostate. There is much proof of this - much proof and the cry to them
has gone out to come out of Babylon- the apostate church. So yes, the cry has
gone on and on and as the Bible tells us this is prior to the coming of the
Lord. All His true people, His true followers, His believers in heart and mind
will hear the call to come out and they will be ready.
May God bless and keep us in Him, true of heart, true of spirit in Him
blessed, called, chosen...ready for Him when He returns.
By His grace and by His will, by His love, by His mercy now and
always.
Amen
10/7/10
10/7/11
Were you alive in 1948? What about 1967? 1980?
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Gentiles the dictionary definition for this word is -
Gentile
GEN'TILE
In the scriptures, a pagan; a worshipper of false gods; any person not a Jew
or a christian; a heathen.
The biblical term "Israelites" (or the Twelve Tribes or Children of Israel)
means both a people (the descendants of the patriarch Jacob/Israel, and the
historical population of the kingdom of Israel), and a follower of the God of
Israel and Mosaic law.[3] In Modern Hebrew usage, an Israelite is, broadly
speaking, a lay member of the Jewish faith, as opposed to the priestly orders of
Kohenim and Levites.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites>
According to our Savior-
Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and
stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy
children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would
not!
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I
say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Jerusalem's house was LEFT desolate. Spiritually they denied God's Son. The
Israeli's alive in Christ's time as a corporate whole condemned Jesus Christ.
Because of their condemnation they were to be left spiritually desolate and this
became a reality--
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
In AD 70 the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
It wasn't until 1948 that Israeli's regained any sort of control over some of
the land that had once been theirs.
1948 Arab–Israeli War
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Jerusalem>
And in 1967 the Old City Jerusalem was recaptured by the Israeli's.
June 7: The Old City is captured by the IDF.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Jerusalem>
And in 1980 A law claiming Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel is
enacted.
The Jerusalem Law is a common name of Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of
Israel passed by the Knesset on July 30, 1980 (17th Av, 5740).
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Law>
And Jesus' words were--
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
So this leads us to only ONE conclusion the times of the Gentiles has been
fulfilled and it was fulfilled in OUR day!
*******
Now we need to ask ourselves a few questions- was there anything going on
between the Israeli-Jews and the Gentiles in Jesus' day and shortly there
after?
Let's just look at the way Jesus spoke of the Gentiles-
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put
on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not
much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to
day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof.
Mat 6:31...What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall
we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek)
Those who did NOT claim the Heavenly Father as their Heavenly Father worried
and thought constantly about eating, drinking, and clothing. Those who
claimed the Heavenly Father as their God should KNOW that God MUST come first in
all things- before food, before drink, before clothing. Obviously Jesus
was pointing out that those who made the claim of being Jews were in fact acting
like the Gentiles, acting as those who do NOT have a Heavenly Father who watches
over them.
It would be THOSE who do NOT have God as their Heavenly Father who would trod
down Jerusalem until that time was fulfilled.
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go
not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye
not:
Mat 10:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at
hand.
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Go not into the way of the Gentiles.
At this time Jesus did NOT want His apostles to go to the Gentiles.
They were to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus is making a distinction between Israeli's and the Gentiles. We can't
ignore this! Jesus gave the prophecy of Luke 21:24 for a reason, not just for
filler. NOTHING Jesus said was said just for it to be said offhandedly, nothing!
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be
ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils,
and in their synagogues they will scourge you;
Mat 10:18 yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my
sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. (RV)
Jesus told of a time when His followers would be brought before legal
authorities and why - for a testimony. Not just a testimony for those
authorities but for Gentiles as well. Gentiles would get to hear the
message of salvation through Jesus Christ, the gospel of the kingdom.
Mat 12:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the
prophet, saying,
Mat 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my
soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment
to the Gentiles.
HE SHALL SHEW JUDGEMENT TO THE GENTILES.
The Gentiles would be given a chance to understand salvation to know that
judgment would come to all even them.
Mat 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
Praise God. Do you see? While Jesus didn't send His apostles to the
Gentiles, the plan was for the good news to go to them in the time Jesus
allowed.
Mat 20:17 And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples
apart in the way, and said unto them,
Mat 20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be
betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him
to death,
Mat 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to
scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Jesus knew His fate at the hands of the Gentiles- delivered by the Israeli
chief priest and scribes.
uk 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was
Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luk 2:26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should
not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Luk 2:27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the
parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Luk 2:28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Luk 2:29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according
to thy word:
Luk 2:30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Luk 2:31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
Luk 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people
Israel.
A LIGHT to lighten the Gentiles!
Joh 7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you,
and then I go unto him that sent me.
Joh 7:34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am,
thither ye cannot come.
Joh 7:35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that
we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and
teach the Gentiles?
The followers of Christ couldn't fully comprehend going to the Gentiles to
preach the message of God. The Gentiles were NOT Jews, they were NOT the chosen
people of God. To these men Jesus going to preach to the Gentiles was somewhere
He could go that they couldn't imagine going with Him.
Act 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they
took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them,
they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the
council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a
notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in
Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us
straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all
nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be
right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and
heard.
Act 4:21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go,
finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men
glorified God for that which was done.
Act 4:22 For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of
healing was shewed.
Act 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported
all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
Act 4:24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to
God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Act 4:25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the
heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast
anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done.
Act 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy
servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Still the apostles were preaching to the lost sheep of Israel and not to the
Gentiles.
Act 6:9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the
synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of
Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
Act 6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by
which he spake.
Act 6:11 Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak
blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
Act 6:12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the
scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
Act 6:13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not
to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
Act 6:14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall
destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
Act 6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him,
saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
Act 7:1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
Act 7:2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of
glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he
dwelt in Charran,
Act 7:3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
Act 7:4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in
Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this
land, wherein ye now dwell.
Act 7:5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to
set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession,
and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
Act 7:6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a
strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them
evil four hundred years.
Act 7:7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge,
said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
Act 7:8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham
begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and
Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
Act 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt:
but God was with him,
Act 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him
favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him
governor over Egypt and all his house.
Act 7:11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and
Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
Act 7:12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out
our fathers first.
Act 7:13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren;
and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
Act 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all
his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
Act 7:15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
Act 7:16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre
that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of
Sychem.
Act 7:17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had
sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
Act 7:18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
Act 7:19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated
our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might
not live.
Act 7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and
nourished up in his father's house three months:
Act 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and
nourished him for her own son.
Act 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and
was mighty in words and in deeds.
Act 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart
to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Act 7:24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and
avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
Act 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that
God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Act 7:26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove,
and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye
wrong one to another?
Act 7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying,
Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Act 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
Act 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land
of Madian, where he begat two sons.
Act 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in
the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
Act 7:31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew
near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
Act 7:32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not
behold.
Act 7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet:
for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
Act 7:34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is
in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And
now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
Act 7:35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler
and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of
the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Act 7:36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and
signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty
years.
Act 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto
me; him shall ye hear.
Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the
angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received
the lively oracles to give unto us:
Act 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them,
and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Act 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for
this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become
of him.
Act 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto
the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Act 7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of
heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have
ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the
wilderness?
Act 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your
god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away
beyond Babylon.
Act 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness,
as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to
the fashion that he had seen.
Act 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with
Jesus(Joshua) into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the
face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Act 7:46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle
for the God of Jacob.
Act 7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house
will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Act 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
Act 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do
always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and
they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom
ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Act 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and
have not kept it.
Act 7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and
they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly
into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of
God,
Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears,
and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the
witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay
not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen martyred, Stephen's last words declaring that the Gentiles were
driven out by God by Joshua- a history lesson for the Israelis proving that
their own written word of God revealed their rejections of the prophets time and
time again.
Act 9:11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street
which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul,
of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
Act 9:12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and
putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Act 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man,
how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Act 9:14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all
that call on thy name.
Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children
of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my
name's sake.
After Saul of Tarsus took part in the stoning of Stephen, holding the coats
of the men who killed him, he had an encounter with Jesus that changed him from
a persecutor of those who followed Jesus to a devout servant of Jesus.
Ananias knew of Saul of Tarsus and knew he wasn't a Christian and the Lord told
him pointedly… He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the
GENTILES and kings, and the children of Israel. The word was to go
to the Gentiles! The Israelis, the chosen of God, the Jewish people had rejected
the word and the word would now go to the Gentiles by one of their own converted
by the love of Jesus.
Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all
them which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished,
as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the
gift of the Holy Ghost.
The Gentiles were now receiving Christ proven beyond a doubt in the presence
of many as they too received the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 11:1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that
the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and
glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life.
Act 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Act 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it
from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles.
Act 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to
be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth.
FIRST the world of God was given to the Jews, but they rejected it! NEXT the
word of God was to go to the Gentiles. This was God's plan! There would be
a time allotted to the Gentiles to hear the word of God and that time would be
up, just as Jesus foretold- remember?
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
God does all things in order, not haphazardly, we can't believe that God is a
God of chaos and flights of fancy- we can't humanize God. We can't put our
failings on Him. He has foretold what would happen, thousands of years ago and
we are allowed to see the signs of the times. This sign- of Jerusalem being
trodden down of the Gentiles- and they were for 19 centuries- has been
fulfilled. Jerusalem is NO longer trod down by the Gentiles.
The message that was to go to them has been given. Just as the message was
given for an allotted time to the Jews and they put it from them. So, if
the Jews and the Gentiles have had time to receive the message of Salvation
through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior- what remains?
Luk 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and
the waves roaring;
Luk 21:26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after
those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken.
Luk 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory.
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up,
and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Since 1980 - 31 years ago now we've been living in this end time where all
the last prophecies will be fulfilled and our LORD WILL RETURN! We can't
ignore all this, we CAN'T! But then again- many will, most will, and it's
heart breaking!
By the grace of God may we keep our eyes opened watching!
By the grace of God may we keep praying always!
All by the grace of God may be ready for Him when He returns! May He KNOW us!
Please Lord, know us!
By His love, through His righteousness always!
Amen.
Were you alive in 1948? What about 1967? 1980?
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Gentiles the dictionary definition for this word is -
Gentile
GEN'TILE
In the scriptures, a pagan; a worshipper of false gods; any person not a Jew
or a christian; a heathen.
The biblical term "Israelites" (or the Twelve Tribes or Children of Israel)
means both a people (the descendants of the patriarch Jacob/Israel, and the
historical population of the kingdom of Israel), and a follower of the God of
Israel and Mosaic law.[3] In Modern Hebrew usage, an Israelite is, broadly
speaking, a lay member of the Jewish faith, as opposed to the priestly orders of
Kohenim and Levites.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites>
According to our Savior-
Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and
stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy
children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would
not!
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I
say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Jerusalem's house was LEFT desolate. Spiritually they denied God's Son. The
Israeli's alive in Christ's time as a corporate whole condemned Jesus Christ.
Because of their condemnation they were to be left spiritually desolate and this
became a reality--
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
In AD 70 the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
It wasn't until 1948 that Israeli's regained any sort of control over some of
the land that had once been theirs.
1948 Arab–Israeli War
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Jerusalem>
And in 1967 the Old City Jerusalem was recaptured by the Israeli's.
June 7: The Old City is captured by the IDF.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Jerusalem>
And in 1980 A law claiming Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel is
enacted.
The Jerusalem Law is a common name of Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of
Israel passed by the Knesset on July 30, 1980 (17th Av, 5740).
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Law>
And Jesus' words were--
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
So this leads us to only ONE conclusion the times of the Gentiles has been
fulfilled and it was fulfilled in OUR day!
*******
Now we need to ask ourselves a few questions- was there anything going on
between the Israeli-Jews and the Gentiles in Jesus' day and shortly there
after?
Let's just look at the way Jesus spoke of the Gentiles-
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,
and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put
on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not
much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to
day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof.
Mat 6:31...What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall
we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek)
Those who did NOT claim the Heavenly Father as their Heavenly Father worried
and thought constantly about eating, drinking, and clothing. Those who
claimed the Heavenly Father as their God should KNOW that God MUST come first in
all things- before food, before drink, before clothing. Obviously Jesus
was pointing out that those who made the claim of being Jews were in fact acting
like the Gentiles, acting as those who do NOT have a Heavenly Father who watches
over them.
It would be THOSE who do NOT have God as their Heavenly Father who would trod
down Jerusalem until that time was fulfilled.
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go
not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye
not:
Mat 10:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at
hand.
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Go not into the way of the Gentiles.
At this time Jesus did NOT want His apostles to go to the Gentiles.
They were to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus is making a distinction between Israeli's and the Gentiles. We can't
ignore this! Jesus gave the prophecy of Luke 21:24 for a reason, not just for
filler. NOTHING Jesus said was said just for it to be said offhandedly, nothing!
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be
ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils,
and in their synagogues they will scourge you;
Mat 10:18 yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my
sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. (RV)
Jesus told of a time when His followers would be brought before legal
authorities and why - for a testimony. Not just a testimony for those
authorities but for Gentiles as well. Gentiles would get to hear the
message of salvation through Jesus Christ, the gospel of the kingdom.
Mat 12:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the
prophet, saying,
Mat 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my
soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment
to the Gentiles.
HE SHALL SHEW JUDGEMENT TO THE GENTILES.
The Gentiles would be given a chance to understand salvation to know that
judgment would come to all even them.
Mat 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
Praise God. Do you see? While Jesus didn't send His apostles to the
Gentiles, the plan was for the good news to go to them in the time Jesus
allowed.
Mat 20:17 And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples
apart in the way, and said unto them,
Mat 20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be
betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him
to death,
Mat 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to
scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Jesus knew His fate at the hands of the Gentiles- delivered by the Israeli
chief priest and scribes.
uk 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was
Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luk 2:26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should
not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Luk 2:27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the
parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Luk 2:28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Luk 2:29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according
to thy word:
Luk 2:30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Luk 2:31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
Luk 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people
Israel.
A LIGHT to lighten the Gentiles!
Joh 7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you,
and then I go unto him that sent me.
Joh 7:34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am,
thither ye cannot come.
Joh 7:35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that
we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and
teach the Gentiles?
The followers of Christ couldn't fully comprehend going to the Gentiles to
preach the message of God. The Gentiles were NOT Jews, they were NOT the chosen
people of God. To these men Jesus going to preach to the Gentiles was somewhere
He could go that they couldn't imagine going with Him.
Act 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they
took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them,
they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the
council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a
notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in
Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us
straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all
nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be
right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and
heard.
Act 4:21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go,
finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men
glorified God for that which was done.
Act 4:22 For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of
healing was shewed.
Act 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported
all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
Act 4:24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to
God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Act 4:25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the
heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast
anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done.
Act 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy
servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Still the apostles were preaching to the lost sheep of Israel and not to the
Gentiles.
Act 6:9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the
synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of
Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
Act 6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by
which he spake.
Act 6:11 Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak
blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
Act 6:12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the
scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
Act 6:13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not
to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
Act 6:14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall
destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
Act 6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him,
saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
Act 7:1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
Act 7:2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of
glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he
dwelt in Charran,
Act 7:3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
Act 7:4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in
Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this
land, wherein ye now dwell.
Act 7:5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to
set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession,
and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
Act 7:6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a
strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them
evil four hundred years.
Act 7:7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge,
said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
Act 7:8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham
begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and
Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
Act 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt:
but God was with him,
Act 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him
favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him
governor over Egypt and all his house.
Act 7:11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and
Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
Act 7:12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out
our fathers first.
Act 7:13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren;
and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
Act 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all
his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
Act 7:15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
Act 7:16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre
that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of
Sychem.
Act 7:17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had
sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
Act 7:18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
Act 7:19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated
our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might
not live.
Act 7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and
nourished up in his father's house three months:
Act 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and
nourished him for her own son.
Act 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and
was mighty in words and in deeds.
Act 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart
to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Act 7:24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and
avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
Act 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that
God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Act 7:26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove,
and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye
wrong one to another?
Act 7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying,
Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Act 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
Act 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land
of Madian, where he begat two sons.
Act 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in
the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
Act 7:31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew
near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
Act 7:32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not
behold.
Act 7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet:
for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
Act 7:34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is
in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And
now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
Act 7:35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler
and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of
the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Act 7:36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and
signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty
years.
Act 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto
me; him shall ye hear.
Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the
angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received
the lively oracles to give unto us:
Act 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them,
and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Act 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for
this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become
of him.
Act 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto
the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Act 7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of
heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have
ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the
wilderness?
Act 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your
god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away
beyond Babylon.
Act 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness,
as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to
the fashion that he had seen.
Act 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with
Jesus(Joshua) into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the
face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Act 7:46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle
for the God of Jacob.
Act 7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house
will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Act 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
Act 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do
always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and
they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom
ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Act 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and
have not kept it.
Act 7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and
they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly
into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of
God,
Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears,
and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the
witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay
not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen martyred, Stephen's last words declaring that the Gentiles were
driven out by God by Joshua- a history lesson for the Israelis proving that
their own written word of God revealed their rejections of the prophets time and
time again.
Act 9:11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street
which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul,
of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
Act 9:12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and
putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Act 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man,
how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Act 9:14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all
that call on thy name.
Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen
vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children
of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my
name's sake.
After Saul of Tarsus took part in the stoning of Stephen, holding the coats
of the men who killed him, he had an encounter with Jesus that changed him from
a persecutor of those who followed Jesus to a devout servant of Jesus.
Ananias knew of Saul of Tarsus and knew he wasn't a Christian and the Lord told
him pointedly… He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the
GENTILES and kings, and the children of Israel. The word was to go
to the Gentiles! The Israelis, the chosen of God, the Jewish people had rejected
the word and the word would now go to the Gentiles by one of their own converted
by the love of Jesus.
Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all
them which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished,
as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the
gift of the Holy Ghost.
The Gentiles were now receiving Christ proven beyond a doubt in the presence
of many as they too received the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 11:1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that
the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and
glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life.
Act 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Act 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it
from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles.
Act 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to
be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth.
FIRST the world of God was given to the Jews, but they rejected it! NEXT the
word of God was to go to the Gentiles. This was God's plan! There would be
a time allotted to the Gentiles to hear the word of God and that time would be
up, just as Jesus foretold- remember?
Luk 21:24 ... and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
God does all things in order, not haphazardly, we can't believe that God is a
God of chaos and flights of fancy- we can't humanize God. We can't put our
failings on Him. He has foretold what would happen, thousands of years ago and
we are allowed to see the signs of the times. This sign- of Jerusalem being
trodden down of the Gentiles- and they were for 19 centuries- has been
fulfilled. Jerusalem is NO longer trod down by the Gentiles.
The message that was to go to them has been given. Just as the message was
given for an allotted time to the Jews and they put it from them. So, if
the Jews and the Gentiles have had time to receive the message of Salvation
through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior- what remains?
Luk 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and
the waves roaring;
Luk 21:26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after
those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken.
Luk 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory.
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up,
and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Since 1980 - 31 years ago now we've been living in this end time where all
the last prophecies will be fulfilled and our LORD WILL RETURN! We can't
ignore all this, we CAN'T! But then again- many will, most will, and it's
heart breaking!
By the grace of God may we keep our eyes opened watching!
By the grace of God may we keep praying always!
All by the grace of God may be ready for Him when He returns! May He KNOW us!
Please Lord, know us!
By His love, through His righteousness always!
Amen.