The
American
Wisdom Series
Presents
Zephaniah
Christian
soldiers will take their stance against the fiery darts of the Wicked One.
We have come to the 9th
book of the Minor Prophets,
the book of the prophet
Zephaniah
whose name means "Hidden of Yah".
It
is particularly important at this late date in the chronological order
of events
for
those with "eyes to see and ears to hear" to understand this instructional
book of Zephaniah
for
it concerns the warning, the "Minatory" as Dr. Bullinger calls it in the
Companion Bible on page 1271,
of
the 7th Trump which is the time known as the great Day of the LORD.
Let us document as part
of our introductory
the exact timeframe of
this book which can be found in verses 14-16 of the first chapter as follows:
Zeph.
1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth
greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry
there bitterly.
[15] That day
is
a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness
and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness,
[16] A day of
the trumpet and alarm
against the fenced cities, and against the
high towers.
It
is not so much that the Day of the LORD is near, it is near (vs. 14),
but
rather that the "voice" ("qowl" in Hebrew which means proclamation)
of
the day of the LORD is near, i.e. the time of the blowing the trumpet,
that
time
of the warning (minatory) to the nations
that
Jesus Christ the King of kings is returning soon.
How
so?
Because
when Satan as the false messiah is cast out of heaven to this earth (Rev.
12:7-9)
at
the sound of the 6th Trump,
God's
elect, the watchmen,
will
no longer be warning their brothers and sisters that the enemy is coming.
The
reason why is obvious,
for
he (Satan) will already be here claiming to be the true Messiah.
In other words, the 6th
Trump will have sounded
and now it shall be time
to blow the sound of warning (trumpet)
and to fulfill Mark 13:10
and "Proclaim [the gospel] Among All Nations",
the good news of the
Kingdom of God,
i.e. that Yeshua Messiah
is about to return as King of kings
with a rod of iron and
subdue all nations and destroy Babylon the great,
the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth.
As it is written, at that
time "some of you" [of God's elect]
will be delivered up
to give that witness and testimony before the great Day of the LORD,
the Day of His Wrath,
arrives.
It is "the WORK" to come
that shall be accomplished by those among the brotherhood,
even of the church of
Smyrna,
when the "devil" has
arrived on the scene at the sound of the 6th Trump:
Rev.
2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold,
the
devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye
may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Yes, those spiritually
rich (Rev. 2:9) Christian soldiers
shall suffer (endure)
persecution and have tribulation,
but that is no big deal
for these spiritual warriors
who don the Gospel Armour
and take their stance
against the fiery darts of the Wicked One.
Jesus Christ said concerning those
who are delivered up that they should not even pre-meditate what they shall
say, for at that time the Holy Spirit shall strengthen them
(with fire) and speak through them, giving them words and wisdom, just
like the example set forth on that first Pentecost Day following the resurrection
when the Holy Spirit (like as a "fire") lighted upon them and spoke through
those Galileans in a language that all those present of all the NATIONS
clearly heard in their own dialect. Here are the words of Christ
concerning those delivered up:
Luke
21:12
But before all
these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you,
delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being
brought
before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
[13]
And
it shall turn to you for a testimony.
[14]
Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before
what ye shall answer:
[15] For
I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries
shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
In the picture book which was sealed-up until these last
days to be understood by the wise (the spiritually
rich in His Word), Shadrach, Meshach, and Abeddnego were given to
us as types of those who would be cast into prison (for 10 days to see
if they would eat idolatrous "meat") and then delivered up to the king
of Babylon, the type of false-christ in these last days. Yet we SEE even
in the "face of death" they would not "bow a knee to Baal", neither did
they premeditate what they said:
Daniel
3:16
Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we
are not careful to answer thee
in this matter.
No premeditation here, right? "Hey Neb! Take your image and
shove it, pal!"
It is also perhaps fitting that we study this book of
Zephaniah at this time for it is the last book in the minor prophets just
preceding the Captivity. Zephaniah was a contemporary of Jeremiah and unlike
the last two prophets we studied, Nahum and Habakkuk, Zephaniah carries
no burden. He prophesied around 518 BC before the reformation of Josiah
ended. (Josiah means "Foundation of Yah".)
Again, most of the Book of Zephaniah
(1:1-3:8) is what Dr. Bullinger calls Minatory, which is a threatening,
like the clouds threaten rain, i.e. to give signs or warning of, like the
blowing of a trumpet. In the case of Zephaniah we shall see that the minatory
is the warning of 7th Trump. It shall be those "Hidden of Yah",
which is what "Zephaniah" means, who shall come and herald the PROCLAMATION
to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people before the King of
kings and Lord of lords returns! And though it is
written that YHVH shall give them a mouth and wisdom at that time, this
is what those "Determined Warriors", the bruisers, the ships of Chittim,
shall declare upon the waters (See Rev. 17:15 for definition of "waters"):
Rev.
14:6
And I saw another
angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that
dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue,
and people,
This is what goes forth in that Proclamation to the nations:
[7]
Saying
with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the
hour of his judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven,
and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Just as Joel declares in the last chapter of his book, Jesus
Christ is coming to the valley of Jeshoshaphat, the "valley of decision",
the "valley of Judgment" (Jehoshaphat means "YHVH judges". Daniel means
"God is Judge"). In other words, the valley of Jehoshaphat
is simply the valley where the Lord (along
with His Zadok) judges the nations for the
decisions they have made and the way they have treated His children.
(Read the 3rd chapter of Joel concerning the blowing of the 7th Trump.
And after the troops, the standing "fire" fighters of
have declared "WOE", the "Hour of His Judgment is Come" and
you had better turn and worship Him that made heaven and earth, THEN the
evil rudiments of Babylon the Great shall come tumbling down with a great
SHOUT (1 Thes. 4) just as the walls of Jericho fell with a thunderous "shout"
at the sound of the 7th Trump!
Rev.
14:8
And there followed
another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
As the final part to our introductory,
let us understand the first verse of Zephaniah, for in it is contained
the "hidden manna"
of His message to us, which is that the "Hidden of Yah" are His elect,
one of those two rays of light that we learned of in Habakkuk, wherein
YHVH's strength is hidden.
Zeph.
1:1
The word of
the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah,
the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of
Amon, king of Judah.
Speaking of hidden, it seems remarkable that it is so noted
by the great scholars and commentators alike, that unlike the other prophets
of God, Zephaniah's genealogy is traced back four generations to King Hezekiah!
The name Hezekiah is even spelled differently in English (Hizkiah) here
in Zeph. 1:1 to help draw our attention to him, i.e. to Hezekiah. The
question is "Why?" Let us begin answering
that question by first taking note of the name "Hezekiah" in Greek as used
in Mat. 1:9:
Ezekias = ed-zek-ee'-as,
Strong's #1478
Of Hebrew origin [#2396]; Ezekias (that
is, Hezekiah), an Israelite:— Ezekias.
Sure looks like "Ezekiel", doesn't
it? Well, it basically means the same thing.
Here is what Hezekiah means in Hebrew:
Hezekiah = chizqŒòyaòh,
khiz-kee-yaw'
#2396
From H2388 and H3050; strengthenedofJah;
Chizkijah,
a king of Judah, also the name of two other Israelites:—Hezekiah, Hizkiah,
Hizkijah. Compare H3169.
We see "Ezeki" (strong, strength) contained (hidden) in the
name of "Hezeki-ah". The difference is the "El" and the "Yah", i.e. the
relationship of God. Ezekiel means "Whom El Strengthens" while Hezekiah
means "Whom Yah Strengthens". Why is this significant
or important? It is important in understanding
that the work that shall be done in the last days after the king of Babylon
has arrived on the scene is that some of those among the sons and daughters
shall give the great Proclamation to ALL nations.
That witness to the nations which we have been discussing comes after the
great teaching, after the great "shepherding" to the sons and daughters
of the true house of Israel, i.e. after the sealing of the 144,000 in Revelation
7:1-4 during which time the four winds were held back from blowing upon
the earth. Therefore, let us understand the role of Ezekiel (the
type of the watchman) to this point, even until the great time of trouble
such as never was when the king of Babylon arrives at the sound of the
6th Trump. (That 6th Trump has not sounded at the time of this study so
the watchmen must continue steadfast in their current duties.)
Ezekiel (Whom God Strengthens)
was first told to eat the "roll" and then he was
appointed a watchmen unto the house of Israel. Although Ezekiel
lived during the captivity of Israel and "acted out" before our eyes every
phase and detail of the coming of the king of Babylon to Jerusalem,
it was NOT his predetermined commission to witness to the kings and
the nations NOR to be delivered up before the king of Babylon. When
the king of Babylon did arrive and take captive the children of Judah,
we then move to the Book of Daniel which details the work of the church
of Smyrna. To wit, the events that take place in
Daniel (God is Judge) occur before and the during the reign of king Nebuchadnezzar,
the type of the king of Babylon of the last days. That is why Daniel's
words were written and sealed-up until the end when the "wise", the spiritually
"rich" watchmen whom Yahveh shall strengthen, shall understand.
Here is the documentation of Ezekiel's commission as given
to Him by God:
Ezekiel
3:1
Moreover He
said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest;
eat this roll, and go speak unto the house
of Israel.
First order of business is to eat
and digest the entire Word of God.
[2]
So
I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
[3]
And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels
with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth
as honey for sweetness.
[4]
And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel,
and speak with my words unto them.
The sons and daughters, who are brothers
and sisters (Philadelphia), speak after the manner of "Thus saith the Lord"
and "It is written", NOT after the manner of "men" and their traditional
denominational teachings. But you see, the
watchmen's overall commission during the 5th Trump is to teach their brothers
and sisters, not to proclaim (herald) to the nations of the world
the gospel of the return of the King of kings, i.e. to those who speak
all those languages we witness in Acts 2. The watchmen
are sent to the true House of Israel.
[5]
For
thou
art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language,
but
to the house of Israel;
[6]Not
to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words
thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they
would have hearkened unto thee.
If it were God's plan to send them to the nations, the nations
would repent as we learned from the great Book of Jonah!
Now understand this, for it is really quite simple. We know the
Lord of lords and King of kings is coming soon, but only AFTER the king
of Babylon (Satan) has come unto Jerusalem at the sound of the 6th Trump.
That
is why we "watch Jerusalem". At that time some of you spiritually rich
Christian soldiers will be strengthened by Yahveh as He speaks through
you when you are delivered up and give the PROCLAMATION that the Kingdom
of God is come and that Jesus Christ is LORD, NOT that image standing in
Jerusalem. Yes, the "hidden of Yah", those Zephaniahs with the seal
of God hidden in their foreheads shall come forth to give "witness" and
HERALD THE RETURN OF OUR KING! Praise God!
Have you ever noticed that precious
metals such as gold and silver and precious gems like diamonds and rubies
do not lie in abundance out in the open fields for passersby to just reach
down and pick up? No, those "riches" are hidden deep in the heart
of the earth and IF you desire to have them you must labor and search for
them and dig them out! And so it is with the precious
riches found in the Word of God that lie at a deeper level beneath the
surface. Those riches are reserved for the
workman who studies and shows himself approved and who rightly divides
the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15).
To that end, keeping in mind that
the main subject of the Book of Zephaniah is the minatory, i.e. the warning,
of the 7th Trump, let's get out the picks and shovels and do some digging
and see how we may be enriched by this discovery.
The first thing we uncover is that Hezekiah was quite
a "gem" himself in the eyes of our Father, for Hezekiah did that which
was right in the sight of the LORD.
2 Kings
18:1
Now it came
to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah
the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
[2] Twenty and
five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and
nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of
Zachariah.
[3] And
he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all
that David his father did.
That is some pretty heavy company to travel with, i.e. to
be likened unto the servant whom God said was "a man after mine own heart"
(Acts 13:22).
[4]
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves,
and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those
days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
Hezekiah rid the nation of idolatry
and even assembled the people before the Lord to keep the Passover after
it was too late to keep the Passover on the 14th day of the first month.
This he did in the second month and God honored it! Get
your shovels out and go dig in 2 Chron. 30:13-26 and see how Hezekiah's
purpose was to unite the tribes of the North with the tribes of the South
and how he prayed on the behalf of the "unclean" who came to partake of
the Passover. Rich, rich!
[5]
He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him
among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
Hezekiah loved the LORD not in words
only but in the mighty works he did by sticking to the Word of God
and keeping all His commands.
[6]
For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following Him, but kept
His commandments, which the LORD commanded
Moses.
The same applies to us today for as
it is written in Hebrews 13:8, " Jesus Christ (is) the same yesterday,
and to day, and for ever." Here are Christ's own words showing what one
does who truly loves Him along with Father's promise to be with
those who do!
John
14:21
He that hath
my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that
loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest
myself to him.
And so Hezekiah loved the LORD and kept His commandments
and the LORD was with him as promised in the writings of Moses!
2 Kings
18:7
And the
LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth:
and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
What an example Hezekiah was! This
servant of God was afraid of NO ONE and the reason is clear, because just
like David who had the courage to stand against Goliath, Hezekiah "trusted
in the LORD God of Israel" and "took a stand" against the mighty king of
Assyria, a type of the false-christ in these last days. You
should read all of 2 Kings chapters 18, 19 & 20 concerning the courageous
manner in which king Hezekiah stood firm and held his ground in Jerusalem
in spite of the fact that all the other cities of Israel had fallen to
the king of Assyria because they had transgressed the Word of God and turned
to idolatry. In fact the messengers* of the
king of Assyria came and told Hezekiah NOT to trust in his God.
But God had told him through the prophet Isaiah not to be afraid of the
king of Assyria because He would handle it, i.e. cause him to fall. Hezekiah
believed the Word of God. Here is what the messengers* spoke to Hezekiah:
* Note: "Messenger"
is what the word "angel" means and we know that when the king of Babylon
(Satan as the false-christ) is cast out of heaven to this earth in Rev.
12:7-9 that his angels (messengers)
are cast out with him. They shall try to convince God's servants to forsake
their God and submit to the king of Assyria,
i.e. Satan posing as Christ!
2 Kings
19:10
Thus shall ye
speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest
deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of
the king of Assyria.
Oh contraire! When the Word of God
states how something shall come to pass, THAT
is exactly how it shall come to pass even if some supernatural angel appears
and tells you otherwise! This is extremely
important to our understanding for these last days.
Take Heed!
[11]
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands,
by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
[12] Have the
gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as
Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?
[13 ]Where is
the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of
Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
All the gods of the "interfaiths"
did not help the nations, did they? Nor shall
they today! So when you hear "You had better
join their ranks with your Christianity, which is just like all the other
religions", pay no attention! That is
EXACTLY what you shall hear in these last days from the messengers of the
false-christ, even as we hear it NOW from the messengers of the first
beast! As a current event update, remember
in August of 2000, the week before the Millennium Summit in NYC, 1000 priests
and bishops and seers and pastors and preachers and gurus from all the
nations stood together and submitted to the beast. It
was the largest and most diverse gathering of religious leaders in the
history of mankind!
Then witness how the National Cathedral in our nation's
capital was used for the first time in history to present an "interfaith"
service on Sept. 14, 2001.
Here is what king Hezekiah did and
said regarding the "heat" put on him from the "messengers" concerning the
MAJORITY, i.e. all the nations round about:
2 Kings
19:14
And Hezekiah
received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah
went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
[15] And Hezekiah
prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest
between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms
of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
There is ONLY one God, the true God
of Israel! ALL others are NO GODS!
Have
you not read what John says in both his gospel (Jn. 3:36) and his epistles:
2
John 1:9 "Whosoever transgresseth, and
abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.He
that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son."
You can be sure that is not "Politically
Correct" and the PEER pressure (Pol.,Ed.,
Econ.,
Rel.)
to conform will be tremendous! Watchmen, listen
to the beautiful prayer of Hezekiah, "Strengthened of Yah"!
[16]
LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and
hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living
God.
God shall deal personally with those
who bring reproach to YHVH, the God of Israel! How
DARE someone call a Jihad, a holy war, against this nation!
[17]
Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their
lands,
[18] And have
cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's
hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
They are ALL man-made religions!
Even the majority of what is called Christianity is really just Churchianity,
i.e. "religion" made of men's hands, i.e.
out
of the traditions of man and not the Word of God.
[19]
Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his
hand,
that all the kingdoms of the earth
may know that thou art the LORD God,
even
thou only.
Oh dear Christian brothers and sisters, contained is this
verse is the "mighty work" that God shall
do in these last days through which "All the world, ALL
NATIONS, shall come to know that there is ONLY one God, the great "I AM",
the God of Israel, the creator of both heaven and earth!" (We just
read in the great Book of Habakkuk concerning His great plan for the nations
in these last days.)
Again, you can and should read 2
Kings 18-20 for yourself. You have your own
shovel, don't you? There is much "hidden manna"
here to be found in verses 20-34 of chapter 19 concerning these last days
if you have eyes to see and ears to hear. Nevertheless,
God did hear Hezekiah's prayer and it came to pass the Angel of Lord took
care of things. God can handle it!
Have NO FEAR!
2 Kings
19:35
And it came
to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the
camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when
they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
In 2 Kings chapter 20 we uncover so
much hidden wealth of knowledge and spiritual insight that we cannot possibly
carry it all in this study of Zephaniah. However, before the deliverance
we just read of in the previous verse (2 Kings 19:35), Hezekiah became
deathly ill and God sent Isaiah to tell him to get his house in order,
he's going home, i.e. he is going to die! Here is
what Hezekiah did:
2 Kings
20:2
Then he turned
his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,
[3] I beseech
thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with
a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah
wept sore.
This is such a touching account of this servant of God lying
on his death bed. Here is what happened next:
2 Kings
20:4
And it came
to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word
of the LORD came to him, saying,
[5] Turn again,
and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God
of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer,
I have seen
thy tears: behold,I
will heal thee: on the third day thou
shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
[6] And I will
add
unto thy days fifteen years; and I will
deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and
I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
[7] And Isaiah
said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he
recovered.
God healed Hezekiah's burning inflammation and he
recovered,
i.e. was now "Strengthened by YHVH"! Hezekiah then
sought an understanding and a sign from the Father through His prophet
Isaiah concerning his miraculous healing.
2 Kings
20:9
And Isaiah said,
This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing
that he hath spoken: shall the shadow
go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?
Isaiah asked Hezekiah if it was his "desire" that the shadow
of the sundial to go forward 10 degrees or go back 10 degrees.
[10]
And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down [forward]
ten degrees: nay, but let the shadowreturn
backward ten degrees.
[11] And Isaiah
the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he
brought the shadow ten degrees backward,
by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.
What are these ten degrees which had
gone down in the dial of Ahaz, Hezekiah's father? This refers the
15 Psalms, 120-134. If you are fortunate enough to have a Companion Bible
you will find a detailed outline and explanation of these Psalms which
are called the "Songs of Degrees", in appendix 67. Here is what Dr.
Bullinger writes in appendix 67 concerning these "degrees":
The only "degrees" of which
we read in the Bible are "the degrees" on the sundial of Ahaz, by which
the shadow of the sun went backward in the days of his son Hezekiah, as
a sign from Jehovah that he should recover from his sickness, while Jerusalem
was surrounded by the armies of the king of Assyria, and Hezekiah was under
sentence of death from the King of Terrors (see 2Kings 20:8-11, and the
Structure of the chapters in Isa. 36-39). Scripture
knows of no other steps or "degrees" that can be connected with the shadow
of the sun. (Companion Bible, appendix 67, pg. 97)
Again, it is not expedient within the
scope of this study to uncover all the riches concerning what Father would
have us know about Hezekiah, "strengthened of Yah", for they are far too
plentiful indeed. However, the watchman of these last days should
pay close attention to what we have learned so far and also to these Songs
of Degrees. You now know where to dig so get to work!
Next we shall burrow into the great Book of Zephaniah
and discover what happens at the sound of the 7th Trump!
Zephaniah means "Hidden of Yah"
and we learned in our study of the great Book of Habakkuk that God's "Power"
is hidden in His elect, those "two rays of light" which shine forth His
truth, His Word, continuing to light that path which leads to freedom and
life while the deadly filthy smoke from the pit of the beast continues
to spew forth lies and deception ever darkening the "air" and "sun".
It will be those two rays of light,
those two candlesticks, those two churches of Philadelphia and Smyrna,
who shall blow the Trumpets, i.e. who shall speak His voice, His Words,
giving warning to His people and soon giving a warning as a witness to
ALL the nations of this world before the great day of His wrath comes and
His GLORIOUS POWER is Uncovered, Unhidden, and Unleashed upon the ungodly.
We know that it is not a pleasant thing for our Father
to have to bring about so great a tribulation, so great a cup of wrath
upon this world.
We read in Jeremiah 4:19-27 how
it "pained His heart" in that first earth age when He poured out His fierce
anger (vs. 26) and destroyed the "world that then was" (2 Pet. 3:6).
Jeremiah 4:19 "My bowels, my bowels!
I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold
my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trump, the
alarm of war."
We also know that our loving Father
is "longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9) and IF at any time His people
will repent and turn to Him He will and He is able to even "turn back the
shadow" of time, extending the period of "light", in order to allow for
a greater harvest.
This is one of the great lessons we learn from the reformation
in the days of righteous king Hezekiah.
Oh how our Father loves His children and desires their
love.
Nevertheless, there shall come a
time when 7th Trump shall sound and the King of kings and Lord of lords
shall return to this earth with all "Power and Glory" to utterly destroy
and consume Babylon the Great and subdue all nations.
At that day, every knee shall bow before the name of Jesus
Christ.
The warning of that Great Day is
what this Book of Zephaniah is all about, the summary of which is given
in the Book of Revelation.
Rev.
18:1
And after these
things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power;
and the earth was lightened with his glory.
[2]
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon
the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils,
and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful
bird.
Let this be no great mystery for we have already
learned how our Father's "great power" is contained in His "two rays of
light", those two candlesticks, those two churches of Philadelphia and
Smyrna who blow the trumpets, His voice, and do the work of God.
Rev. 1:20 "... The seven stars are
the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou
sawest are the seven churches."
The voice in Rev. 18:2 is "strong" because it is strengthened
by YHVH and by His great power!
This verse is speaking of that warning
and witness of those servants "Hidden of Yah", those "rays of light" through
whom the power of the Holy Spirit (like unto fire) shall speak after the
manner of the example given in Acts chapter 2.
They shall declare to the EARTH,
bring the light of truth to ALL nations, the fact that Babylon the Great
is as good as HIStory and that filthy One World Political,
Economic, Educational, andReligious
System
is COMING DOWN HARD!
And God's servants will have all the supporting evidence
and documentation contained in the next verse.
[3]
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the
merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
And during the time of that great warning declaring that
Jesus Christ is soon to return and put an end to Babylon the great, i.e.
before the great day of His wrath, the other voice (as a trumpet) from
heaven, through His servants who have been diligently working in the field,
will be as follows:
[4]
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out
of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive
not of her plagues.
Would be to God that our brothers
and sisters had eyes to see and ears to hear in that they could heed this
warning now, even as this trumpet blows this very day!
And so it is that the Zephaniah's, the "Hidden of Yah",
God's elect, shall come forth when our patient Father is ready to consummate
this flesh age and they shall declare His Power and Glory and His mighty
works to the whole earth.
Here is what our Father has declared
He
will do at the sound of the 7th Trump when He ends this
flesh age.
Zeph.
1:2
I will
utterly
consume
all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
"All things" means just that,
"ALL" things.
Do you know how they will be consumed?
Spiritually by FIRE!
His FIRE, for He is a consuming fire!
Hebrews 12:29 "For our God is a
consuming fire."
Here is how Peter describes that consumption of all that
is wicked and evil.
2 Peter
3:10
But the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and theelements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth
also and
the works
that are therein shall be burned up.
You see, the "fire"
spoken
of is not the physical fire which burns on the candlestick, but the spiritual
fire it symbolizes.
Look up the word "elements" in your Strong's Concordance.
It should be translated "rudiments" or "principles".
In other words, Peter is simply
saying that the evil rudiments, ALL the earthly systems, ALL the WORKS
of wickedness of Babylon the Great and the false messiah shall be CONSUMED
from off the earth.
Corruption, iniquity, false religion
and all forms of liberalism shall NO MORE be allowed!
Zeph.
1:3
I will
consume man and beast; I
will consume the fowls of the heaven,
and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and
I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
Man (adam), beasts (of the field), fowls (of the
air), and fishes (of the sea), all refer to people (If you need help go
back and reread Habakkuk).
Again, although the flesh age does
end and all the people on earth put off this tabernacle of the flesh body*
one way or the other when Jesus Christ returns, the real "consuming" He
WILL do is of that "spiritual fire" which is what the verses following
verse 3 DETAIL for us.
*Note: For further documentation that ALL those
who are alive and remain in the flesh when Christ returns shall be changed
from a corruptible body to an incorruptible body
(i.e. the flesh age ends), read 1 Cor. 15:51-54.
You see, there are two "raisings"! One applies
to the body, the other to the soul. In other words, everyone puts
on the spiritual "body" when Christ returns because the flesh age ENDS
at that time. However, you must put on BOTH the
spiritual body AND put on immortality, i.e. receive eternal life, to have
the victory over "Death", i.e. over Satan. 1 Cor. 15:54 "So
when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, andthis
mortal shall have put on immortality,
then
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed
up in victory."
Many shall NOT have put on "immortality"
and so throughout the Millennium they are
referred to as "the dead". Why?They
have NO VICTORY over Death, i.e. they are still liable to die in the lake
of fire at the end of the Millennium if they do not learn to discern between
the holy and the profane and discipline themselves in the Word of God.That
is what they shall be taught by God's elect during those 1000 years(Ezekiel
44:23-24 "And they shall teach
my people the
difference between the holy and profane, and
cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
[24] And in controversy they shall stand in
judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall
keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow
my sabbaths."
Let
us now continue with what it is God shall consume.
He also said in Zeph. 1:3 that He will consume the "stumblingblocks"
along with the wicked. That simply means He will
totally ruin their idols, those idols which have ruined them. You
see, there will be NO IDOLS in the Millennium.
[4]
I will also
stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and
the name of the Chemarims with the priests;
This is the "smashing", the stretching out of His hand, that
occurs when Luke 21:6 comes to pass and the temple offalse
religion is pulverized. Here is what Christ told His servants
concerning the buildings of the temple which some marveled at:
Luke
21:6
As for these
things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not
be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Jesus Christ marked that temple to be destroyed and so it
shall be. We can also read of it Rev. 11:
Rev.
11:1
And there was
given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and
measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
The note in your Companion Bible will explain that the measuring
of this "reed" is a measuring for destruction!
[2]
But
the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for
it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under
foot forty and two months.
[3] And
I will give
power unto my two witnesses, and
they
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed
in sackcloth.
The two "rays of light" shall be "Strengthened
of Yah", by His POWER, HIS FIRE, HIS WORD, and they shall teach and proclaim
His truth! And so they do, and so they shall!
[4]
These
are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God
of the earth.
The two olive trees (see Zech. 4),
the two witnesses, and those two churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia shall
have His power! He has given them His Power and they shall use it!
(Luke 10:19)
[5]
And
if any man will hurt them,
fire
proceedeth out of their mouth, and
devoureth
their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be
killed.
The FIRE of His truth, the Holy Spirit
of God which proceeds out of their mouth, i.e. the Consuming Fire speaking
through them, shall do the CONSUMING! Let's repeat Zeph. 1:4:
Zeph.
1:4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon
Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the
remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the
priests;
All one needs to know is that Baal is the false-christ and
his angelic host and all the "black robed" priests (Chemarims) are going
to be destroyed and cut off, forever!
Note: A "black robed" priest is not limited to scribes
and Pharisees. Anyone who does NOT teach His truth
has no "light" shining forth from his or her garments. The color
black, as we were taught in elementary school, is the ABSENCE OF LIGHT.
If
one teaches the "traditions of men" that person wears a spiritual black
robe!
[5]
And
them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that
worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;
Those who follow after the fire breathing
dragon, Malcham, who is the false fire god Molek, i.e. the false-christ
the false king (malak), and those who worship after Satan's angelic host
of heaven when they are cast out with him to this earth (Rev. 12:7-9),
shall also receive of the cup of the Wrath of God.
"Come out of her my people!" Come out of Babylon (confusion)
and stop believing the traditions of men! Learn who
Molek is and how the children were "passed through the fire"!
[6]
And
them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought
the LORD, nor enquired for him.
How
many people do you know who hunger and thirst after the Word of God?
Jesus Christ always spoke
in parables to the multitudes but it was only His
disciples
who
came to Him afterwards and sought answers and explanations concerning the
"hidden manna",
the
deeper spiritual truth of His Word.
The next verse documents
the timeframe being discussed by the prophet Zephaniah, "Hidden of Yah".
Zeph.
7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for
the day of
the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he
hath bid his guests.
The
Day of the Lord is not Sunday
but
rather the day the Lord returns to this earth as the King of kings and
Lord of lords.
The sacrifice are those
talked about earlier in Zephaniah
who shall be "consumed"
by the FIRE of His Fierce Wrath.
They shall be separated
from His sanctified ones,
His children who love
and serve Him, for He has not appointed then unto wrath,
"but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thes. 5:9)".
[8]
And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will
punish the princes, and the king's children, and
all such
as are clothed with strange apparel.
He is going to pour
out His wrath, i.e. punish,
all those who are disobedient
from the greatest to the least,
from the princes to the
paupers,
and ALL those who wear
those black priest robes who led His children astray. WOE!
Note: Clothing
is used symbolically to denote one's spiritual condition. For instance,
fine white linen is symbolic of purity and chastity and is therefore the
dress of a virgin bride.
Rev.
19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
[8] And to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white:
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
If
fine linen, clean and white, is the righteousness of saints,
what
do you suppose those strange dirty black garments of the priests symbolize?
Zeph.
1:9 In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold,
which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.
Those who are sent
by their masters to steal and rob the people
(both spiritually and
physically) through unrighteousness and deceit
through the teachings
of the traditions of men,
shall surely experience
the wrath of God.
In
fact, judgment begins at the house of God, i.e. in the pulpit (1 Pet. 4:17).
Woe to those pastors and
preachers in spiritual "black robes" who feed themselves!
WOE!
Ezekiel
34:2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds;
Woe
be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves!
should not
the shepherds feed the flocks?
Should
not the shepherds teach God's Word
chapter
by chapter and verse by verse to His children?
The
answer is, "Yes they should!"
Matthew
7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves.
The
brook of living water (His Word) can topple a mighty man!
We have learned in Zephaniah that when Jesus
Christ returns at the sound of the 7th Trump He will stretch out His hand
upon Jerusalem and utterly "smash" that seat of the temple of the false
messiah which has become the "gathering place of the crowd", i.e. the "rendezvous"
of Satan's crowd, and as Zeph. 1:4 states, He shall "cut off the
remnant of Baal (the false-christ)". This "Battle of Armageddon" as it
is called will be "speedy" (vs. 18), i.e. very, very brief, and there shall
be much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth by those idolatrous ones
who serve Satan.
Luke
13:28
There shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and
you yourselves thrust out.
By the way, "Armageddon" in Hebrew is a compound word from
"har" and "megiddon" which means "hills of rendezvous".
har - Strong's #2022
A shortened form of H2042; a mountain or range
of hills (sometimes used figuratively):—hill (country), mount (-ain), X
promotion.
megiddon - Strong's #4023
From H1413; rendezvous; Megiddon or Megiddo,
a place in Palestine:— Megiddo, Megiddon.
And so it is that the spurious messiah
and His cronies (his locust army) shall
gather on the temple mounts in Jerusalem where there shall be a GREAT crashing,
even a great "crushing", when the LORD returns to that place!
Zeph.
1:10
And it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall be the noise
of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great
crashing from the hills.
This SHALL "come to pass" in "that
day", the great day of the Lord, when the scripture "comes to pass" concerning
the temple in Jerusalem in Luke 21:6"
...behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not
be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
In other words, when Yeshua returns as King of kings and Lord of lords
there will crying (weeping) from the outer "fish" gate, and howling (wailing)
from the inner city gate, and a great "crashing" on the hills on which
the upper city and the temple were founded, Zion and Moriah respectively,
when Jesus Christ returns (Zech. 14:4) and He destroys (sheber - #7767)
that temple. That's right! It's been declared here by the prophet
Zephaniah all these many, many centuries!
Zeph.
1:11
Howl, ye inhabitants
of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear
silver are cut off.
Maktesh means "mortar" which is the stuff one builds up walls
with, i.e. to hold the bricks together. The "merchant
people" have built walls with whitewash and mortar to hide that which they
do deceitfully behind those walls. That is why we use the term "Hidden
Dynasties", such as "The Hidden Dynasty of the Economy*". However,
one thing you can count on with certitude, for it is written in the Word
of God, those walls of Babylon the Great are coming down with a great shout
at the SOUND BLAST of the 7th Trump, just like the walls of Jericho came
"crashing" down with a shout. And just as Zephaniah said in vs.
11, the merchants shall be cut down, i.e. cut off! You can read the same
thing as a second witness in Rev. 18.
Rev.
18:10-11
Standing afar
off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon,
that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
[11] And the
merchants of the earth shall
weep and mourn over her; for no man
buyeth their merchandise any more:
Rev. 18:15
The merchants
of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for
the fear of her torment,
weeping and wailing,
Yes, there shall be much weeping and wailing and gnashing
of teeth at that day!
Zeph.
1:12
And it shall
come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and
punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart,
The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
There will be no place to run and hide!
Those who are "hardened" by the years of wealth and ease (settled on their
lees) who have built up their "secure" walls with their "mortar" and who
say that God has no power, shall be found and EXPOSED, i.e. their walls
are coming down! This "garbage" that we hear from Marxists and Nietzsche-ites
and all sorts of past and present communists, atheists, and arrogant liberals
who say that men (especially the wealthy and incumbent) and the state have
all power and control over men shall be CONSUMED!
Satan and his cronies have always contended, right from the garden of Eden,
that "they are gods, knowing good and evil", and that they are in charge
of the affairs of men to determine right and wrong, good and evil, and
that they alone provide for themselves! In
other words, they deny God and believe (say in their hearts) that God has
no power and influence, i.e. "The LORD will not do good, neither will he
do evil"! I guess they will just have to find out the hard way.
THUMP!
Then they shall know that there truly is a God, one who has ALL POWER and
CONTROL over the affairs of men, and "they ain't Him"!
[13]
Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation:
they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant
vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.
Their wealth and their great "systems"
shall all come "crashing" to naught in one hour! And they can build
and rebuild and plant and replant, but they shall not dwell in their idolatrous
houses nor enjoy the fruits of their labor because the Great Day of the
Lord is coming and then it's all over! Get out your handkerchiefs and prepare
to weep and howl!
[14]
The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even
the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen!
Get
ready! That Great Day of His Wrath is Coming when
He pours out that last and 7th vial!
Note: "Mighty man" is "gibbor" in Hebrew which means "giant",
even "powerful warrior", "tyrant", "champion". No
problem, do not fear nor take anxious thought. The
little shepherd lad, David, showed us how easy it is to handle big powerful
mighty men of renown! Trust in the Lord thy God and the power of
His might! A little stone of truth from the Pentateuch,
the brook of living water (His Word) can topple a mighty man! Then
you can take his "own sword" and cut his head off, spiritually speaking
of course!
Zeph.
1:15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of
trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness
and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
God shall take vengeance on His adversaries and His wrath
is reserved for His enemies...
Nahum
1:2
God is jealous,
and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will
take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
...not for those who love and serve Him and walk in His light
of truth. They are rewarded with salvation and eternal life.
1 Thes.
5:5
Ye are all the
children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night,
nor of darkness.
1 Thes. 5:9
For God hath
not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by
our Lord Jesus Christ,
Again, just as we saw "Joshua", the type of savior who led
our people "across the river" and into the promised land, when Yeshua,
our Lord and Savior, gives the signal and the 7th and final trumpet blows,
then with a "shout" shall the fenced cities, the walls made by men's mortar,
and the high towers come "crashing" down. Babylon the Great is coming down!
Zephaniah
1:16
A day of the
trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
Be wise and be forewarned now, that
men's strongholds, their gods (idols) of money and scientific knowledge
and systems and governments shall be turned against them like the plagues
of Egypt and "neither their silver nor their gold" shall be able to save
them. No, they won't be able to buy their
way out this time! You might even say "It's all over but the shouting,
now!" for the history of tomorrow has already been written, and you are
reading it!
[17]
And
I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because
they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out
as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
Though they are too blind to see past
the flesh and their own devices and into the reality of Christ and His
realm, the infinite justice of Almighty God shall prevail "with a mighty
hand" and THEN they shall know that He is God and there is NONE OTHER.
THEN EVERY KNEE, including all those "Thumped by the Trump", shall bow
to the name of Jesus Christ (Rom. 14:1, Philip. 2:10).
[18]
Neither
their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of
the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire
of his jealousy: for he shall make even a
speedy riddance
of all them that dwell in the land.
When that "Consuming Fire" (Heb.
12:29) comes upon the land it shall be a speedy
"good riddance" to Babylon the Great and all the evil elements she is comprised
of.
What a great and victorious day
that will be for those who love and serve God!
What a dark day of weeping and wailing
and gnashing of teeth it will be for those who don't!
Even
though they go to church they shall still "faint for thirst"
Make no mistake about it!
The great day of the Lord shall
come upon all "the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Zeph. 1:4)",
and "the remnant of Baal (the spurious messiah)",
and "those that swear by Malcham, the false king of kings (Zeph.
1:5)", and "them that are turned back from the LORD;
and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him (Zeph.
1:6)."
In other words, all those who worship
Satan, the false messiah, the abomination of desolation, when he appears
at the sound of the 6th Trump and sits in the temple claiming that he is
Jesus Christ (2 Thes. 2:4), shall feel the
cup of our Father's wrath at the sound of the 7th Trump, lest they repent
and turn to Him before that great day Jesus Christ returns!
How about you?
Do you study your Father's Word
to show yourself approved (2 Tim 2:15)?
In other words, do you enquire
of Him through His Word or do you listen to and follow after the traditions
of men?
You see, there are many, many Christians
who go to church and do good works for their fellow man and who believe
the words of their friendly pastors and ministers who tell them that Jesus
Christ will return (at any moment)
and take them up in the clouds in a "Rapture of the Church".
Then to compound their error of
teaching that the 7th Trump occurs before (or at the same time)
as the 6th Trump, they tell folks they do not need to seek His Word and
study the book of the "unveiling" (Revelation)
nor try to understand it.
This they rationalize with their
false teaching that we will gather back to Christ and will not be here
when the events of the Book of Revelation take place.
Shame on them!
Shame on both the pastors who teach
contrary to God's Word and shame on those who listen to them without checking
them out in the Word of God.
The apostle Paul made it ever so
clear in 2 Thes. 2 that we SHALL NOT gather back to Christ until the son
of perdition comes and sits in the temple of God deceiving the whole world
through his signs and miracles into believing he is God, the true Messiah.
Haven't you read it?
2 Thes.
2:1
Now we beseech
you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
by
our gathering together unto Him,
This is the subject: The coming
of our Lord and our gathering unto Him.
[2]
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit,
nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at
hand.
Do not be misled or left wondering.
Read right here in the Word of God
exactly how it shall be!
[3]
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that
day shall not come, except there come
a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition;
"That day shall not come"refers
that day Christ returns and we gather back to Him, the subject being
discussed here!
That day shall NOT COME until the
son of perdition is revealed which is when Michael, the one who holds him
back at this time, steps aside and casts Satan and his angels
to this earth (Rev. 12:7-9, Dan. 12:1).
And what will Satan do when he arrives?
Next verse:
[4]Who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Satan will come claiming that
he is God, i.e. he will set up his "image" to the world that he is Jesus
Christ, the one to be worshipped!
The problem is that he is the false
messiah, that beautiful cherub (Ezek. 28:14), Satan,
posing as Jesus Christ.
The sad truth of the matter is
that the majority of Christians will believe he in fact IS Christ and they
will bow before him.
That is what the great apostasy is, the great falling
away, and it shall happen in one day's time!
Therefore be very careful when listening
to pastors and preachers, all of them, including this one.
That does not mean you need to be afraid of listening
to them, just check out what they teach with the
Word of God.
Never forget that "false teachers"
are the number one warning Jesus Christ gave us concerning these last days.
It is well recorded in Mat. 24, Mk. 13, & Luke 21:
Matthew
24:4
And Jesus answered
and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. [5] For many
shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and
shall deceive
many. Many shall come saying Jesus is Christ
and then turn right around and deceive you!
That's right!
They come in His name, i.e. as
Christian ministers, MANY of them, even
the MAJORITY of them, and they all say that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that's about it!
Salvation and baptism is all many
of them ever talk about!
The rest is church, church, church!
And I'm not knocking church, it
is just that very few teach our Father's Word chapter by chapter and verse
by verse and therefore they TURN NOT the hearts of the people back to their
Father, i.e. to His Word, to follow after and walk in His ways.
Therefore our people are and remain
Biblically illiterate and suffer the consequences of idolatry and liberalism
as a result of their lack of the knowledge of His Word.
You "see", if one does not study
God's Word then that individual IGNORES HIM because they ignore His voice,
His word!
Hosea
4:6
My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be
no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten
the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
To that end, because of the
great lack of knowledge of our Father's Word, we presently, right now,
find ourselves in the midst of the great famine of the last days, the one
that Jesus Christ said would precede His second advent?
The prophet Amos gives us the exact details of what that
famine is:
Amos
8:11
Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I
will send a famine in the land, not
a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD:
The famine of the last days
is a spiritual famine for the hearing of the words of the LORD,
not for a scarcity of bagels and biscuits.
We hear a lot of words about
the Lord from many preachers, but we hear
very few of His actual words taught from the Bible(the
whole book is His Word).
Both the Old and the New
Testaments!
And because of the drought, the
dearth of Living Water, i.e. His Word, this once fruitful place has been
turned into a spiritual death valley filled with spiritually "dry bones"
(Ezek. 37)!
It is the job and duty of the "watchman", of whom Ezekiel
was a type, to prophesy (i.e. teach the prophets)
to
those "dry bones" who have been starved by the priests
and pastors of churchianity, and thus breath "life" back into those
dry bones.
Ezekiel
37:4
Again he said
unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear
the word of the LORD.
This is extremely important for us to understand,
i.e. to know what our responsibilities as watchmen are!
That is because the woes and labor
pangs shall continue in strength and intensity in these last days and many
folks shall be dismayed and run to and fro, from sea to shining sea (i.e.
people from all over the land), seeking answers,
seeking the word of the LORD.
Yes, they shall even fill many churches
to capacity and shall be led to pray and sing songs of praise but
alas, they still shall NOT find His Word!
Amos
8:12
And they shall
wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall
run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and
shall not find it.
[13] In that
day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
You must be able to "see" that
even though they go to church they shall still "faint for thirst",
i.e. be overcome by the drought and the famine,
because they are not "fed" from the table of the Lord!
Our brothers and sisters need
to be shown where the "Green Pastures" are, where the "Living Water" flows,
where the "Bread of Life" can be found!
Someone needs to love them enough
to lead them directly to Jesus Christ, to the Word of God, and teach them
with understanding that they may learn to receive and eat their "Daily
Bread" from Him and live.
Just going to church once a week
and performing a few rituals and hearing one or two verses read from the
Bible, will surely cause one to spiritually "dry up" and be blown away
like chaff when "the winds blow, and beat upon your house
(Mat. 7:25)"!
That brings us to the second chapter of the Book of Zephaniah,
the book concerning the time of the final warning, the blowing of the trumpet
that the Day of the LORD is near and it SHALL come. It is written in Mat.
24, Mk. 13, Luke 21, that some of God's elect shall be delivered up and
give testimony before kings and rulers and that the gospel shall be "published"
(better translated proclaimed, heralded) among ALL nations. (I
guess they are still here doing His work and not off "raptured" somewhere,
right?) It is also written that those who
are delivered up are not to premeditate nor take anxious thought about
what they shall say because at that time the Holy Spirit will speak through
them.
However, we do know that it is our
Father's desire that His people come out of Babylon (confusion) of these
end times so that they do not have to experience the 7th vial, the fury
of His cup of wrath when it is poured out upon the ungodly (Rev. 18:4 ...Come
out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues). And it is written that many shall come out
of her, out of that great tribulation, when they see God's elect delivered
up and give their testimony when His "fire", the Holy Spirit of God, proceeds
from their mouths.
Rev.
7:9
After this I
beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all
nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,
stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes,
and palms in their hands;
Salvation is open to all nations and
kindreds and people and tongues!
Rev.
7:14
And I said unto
him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Never underestimate the value of the
"seed
planting" that you do today!
[15]
Therefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple:
and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
[16] They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light
on them, nor any heat.
Soon there will be NO MORE famine and
drought when Jesus Christ returns with His saints and He ushers in the
kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. There shall forever
be plenty of green pastures and the river of living waters shall flow forth
from beneath the threshold of His throne as it is written in Ezekiel 47:1
and Rev. 22:1.
[17]
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Would you believe that the lush green
pastures and the living fountains of waters are available RIGHT NOW for
any and all who will come to Him and seek Him through His Word. That's
right! Jesus Christ promises He will feed anyone who hungers and thirsts
after righteousness, i.e. His Word. Matthew 5:6 "Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall
be filled."
Remember, our Father is longsuffering
toward His children (2 Pet. 3:9) and not desirous that any should perish
and so it is as we read in Rev. 18:4 that the call for both individual
and national repentance shall go forth with the final warning from God's
elect that the One World Political/Economic/Religious
system, i.e. Babylon the great, the mother
of harlots with whom all the kings of the earth have committed fornication,
is coming down when Jesus Christ returns. We read of that call to repentance
right here in Zephaniah:
Zeph
2:1
Gather yourselves
together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;
Jesus Christ is returning expecting to marry a virgin bride.
However, the majority of Christians will have been spiritually seduced
and shall be "wed" to the spurious messiah believing in their ignorance
that he is Jesus Christ, their bridegroom. How happy
do you suppose Christ will be when He returns and finds His wife to be
with child, having been spiritually impregnated
by the imposter, the false messiah? That
is what Christ meant when He said in Mark 13:17 "But
woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!"
He was not talking about physical, natural motherhood, but
about the spiritual seduction of Satan posing as Christ!
Therefore, they shall be forewarned that they had better
get their act together and "seek the LORD" before that 7th
and final trump sounds.
[2]
Before
the decree bring forth,
before the day pass as the chaff,
before
the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you,
before the day
of the LORD'S anger come upon you.
Turn and seek the LORD now before the
"decree", i.e. the heralding that the great Day of the Lord is coming,
comes to pass and all those remaining "dry bones" are blown away like chaff.
You
see, when Jesus Christ comes at the sound of the 7th Trump and pours out
His cup of wrath, the door to the great wedding feast shall be shut and
none shall enter in at that time.
[3]
Seek
ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment;
seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be
ye shall be hid in the
day of the LORD'S anger.
Remember the name "Zephaniah" means "Hidden of Yah"?
To be "hid" in the day of the LORD's anger is simply to be spared from
His wrath which as we have already learned (Nah. 1:2) is reserved for His
enemies, not His children who love and serve Him. We also already
learned that the gods of money and gold and silver cannot save a soul from
His fierce anger and there is no place to hide from His candles, i.e. the
Light. But even more importantly, do you remember
what we learned from king Hezekiah, "Strengthened of Yah", who called a
gathering, an assembly of our people to come and keep the Passover in the
second month, even after it was past the time to keep it in the first month?
IF our people turn to their loving Father, He will stop the clock, turn
back the "shadow", and open His arms and protect His children as an eagle
fluttereth over her young (Deut. 32:11). The choice
is all yours from this day forward!
Deut.
4:29
But if
from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou
shalt
find him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all
thy soul.
[30]
When
thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee,
even
in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God,
and shalt be
obedient unto his voice;
His Word is His Voice,
the voice of the true Shepherd, not some man in some church!
You "see", one must "know His voice" before He can even be obedient, right
(Jn. 10:4)?
[31]
(For
the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) He will not forsake
thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which
He sware unto them.
He is merciful indeed and His promises are sure and He loves
His children very much!
Next we will learn that the strongholds
of the "migratory ones", the kentites, shall be forsaken and made
a complete and utter desolation at the sound of the 7th Trump!
Zephaniah means "Hidden
of Yah"
and it will be those
hidden ones of YHVH
who are filled with His
Spirit who shall give the proclamation of Mat. 24:14 and Mark 13:10
when they are brought
before rulers and kings for His sake:
Mark
13:9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils;
and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before
rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
[10]And the gospel
must first be published [proclaimed] among all nations.
In
other words, that proclamation and witness to the nations
shall
be proclaimed by the Holy Spirit speaking through His elect in that
hour
after
the manner of the example given on Pentecost Day in Acts chapter two
whereby
every person shall hear that which is spoken
in
his or her very own dialect (native tongue)!
Mark
13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought
beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever
shall be given you
in that hour, that speak ye: for it is
not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
You
see, there is One who has ALL power
who
is coming to execute justice and righteousness
and
utterly consume and destroy the powers and strongholds
of
the wicked and unrighteous children of disobedience,
even
those hidden dynasties controlled by the sons of Cain.
The fact is, the great
prophet Zephaniah declared God's judgment,
His "woe", upon those
strongholds of the "migratory ones"
literally thousands of
years ago.
And
although there were historical fulfillments of the prophecies,
they
were given to serve as types and ensamples
so
that we "upon whom the ends of the world are come" could visually see,
i.e.
get a picture in our mind's eye, of how things would be in these last days.
Paul explained it to us
very clearly.
1 Cor.
10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and
they
are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world
are come.
[12] Wherefore
let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed
lest he fall.
Therefore,
if you think you are in "good standing" with the Lord
and
you haven't "taken heed"
and
studied the ensamples that He had
written for our admonition,
foretelling
us all things (Mk. 13:23) even by ensamples,
you
are on real shaky ground my friend!
Let
us now read of the demise of the strongholds of the enemies of our people:
Zeph
2:4
For Gaza shall
be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at
the noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
A little research into history reveals that these four cities
were all strongholds of the Philistines, the migratory
ones. Here are their meanings taken from Strong's concordance:
Gaza = strong, fortified
Ashkelon = weighing place, mart
Ashdod = oppressor, robber
Ekron = torn up by the roots; emigration
The word "desolation" means not only "devastation" but figuratively
"astonishment" and the word "noonday" means "double light"!
Take
the time to study the incredible Book of Habakkuk and understand the "what",
"why", and "how" of the "wonderful (astonishing) works" of our Father in
these last days and learn of His hidden power through His "two rays of
light". That deeper level of understanding will enable you to better
comprehend the fulfillment of this verse. (Live
Link)To-Habakkuk
There is also a figure of speech (in all languages) called
a paronomasia where similar sounding or rhyming words are used to
make cute little sayings which add poetic emphasis to the oft times profound
message being communicated. An example in English is our saying "No Pain,
No Gain". In addition to their play of similar sounds, paronomasias make
sense and they're fun to say. (See appendix 6 in the Companion Bible.)
We find two paronomasias in Zephaniah 2:4 which actually
begins with one and ends with one. The first is gaza gazubuh which
emphasizes that Gaza "the strong" is as good as "gone", i.e. forsaken,
refuse, for it shall be destroyed! The last paronomasia is 'ekron te'aker
which emphasizes that the "emigrants", i.e. the migratory ones (kenites),
shall be plucked up by their roots! This
should perk up the ears of those who are familiar with the Parable of the
Tares in Matthew 13 where it is written that Jesus Christ, the Son of Man,
shall take care of rooting up the tares, the kenites! We are to
leave them alone for now! Here are Christ's words
from the parable of the tares in Mat. 13:27-30, the clear and simple explanation
of which is given in vs. 37-42: (Live
Link)To-"The
Parable of the Tares" (Live
Link)To-"Two
Sowers of seed; both the good and the bad"
Matthew
13:27
So the servants
of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good
seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Matthew 13:38
The field is the world; the good
seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the
children of the wicked one;
[28]
He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants
said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Matthew 13:39
The enemy that sowed them is the devil;
[29]
But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root
up also the wheat with them.
[30]
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time
of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares,
and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matthew 13:39-41
...the harvest is the end of the world;
and the reapers are the angels. [40] As therefore the tares are gathered
and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. [41] The
Son
of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather
out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
All the strength and strongholds of
His enemies shall be utterly destroyed and 'Ekron te'aker, the "migratory
ones" (tares) shall be "rooted up" (gathered) by Jesus Christ and His host!
He
shall free His people and restore them to His fold!
Zeph 2:5
Woe
unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the
word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines,
I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
The sea coast refers to the merchant
and trafficking towns like Zidon and her daughter city of Tyre which were
controlled by the "migratory ones", i.e. the robbers and oppressors, that
nation of murderers "which killed the prophets (Matthew 23:31)" and whose
offspring would later bring about the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior.
(Cherethites = executioners).
[6]
And
the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds
for flocks.
God will visit His people and redeem
His people and turn the dwelling places of the wicked into lush green pastures.
In other words He shall consume all the evil elements (rudiments) by His
"fire" (2 Pet. 3:10-12), the power of the Holy Spirit, and His children
shall henceforth feed on truth and thus be set free from their captivity!
[7]
And
the coast shall be for the
remnant of the house of Judah;
they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down
in the evening: for the LORD their God
shall visit them,
and turn away their captivity.
He shall free His people and restore them to His fold!
Zeph
2:8
I have heard
the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby
they have
reproached my people, and magnified themselves
against their border.
God's judgment, His wrath, shall be
upon all those who "join with the enemy", who aid and abet the terrorists
of His children, and who come against and reproach His people!
You see, it is through His wrath that they shall come to KNOW that He IS
the LORD, the great "I AM"! Ezekiel also records the chastisement of Moab
and Ammon.
Ezekiel
25:8
Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah
is like unto all the heathen;
Moab was also Lot's son and therefore Ammon's brother.
The Moabites are also to be chastised for their hostilities to Israel and
their evil doings, even their participation in the Molech worship of passing
their children through the fire, a great abomination in the sight of the
Lord.
[9]
Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his
cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth,
Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim,
The region of Moab was richer than that of Ammon and is so
called the "glory of the country". Yet check out the names of their cities,
the "prides of Moab":
Beth-jashimoth = "House of desolations", as in
the abomination of desolation.
Baal-meon = "Baal's habitation". The sign at the entrance
to the city probably read: "Welcome to Baal-meon, Home of the pagan god,
Baal".
Kiriathaim = "Double City". Double minded is more like
it, trying to decide which god to worship.
[10]
Unto
the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession,
that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations.
[11] And
I
will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I
am the LORD.
If you continue reading in this 25th
chapter of Ezekiel the next thing you will read about is Edom, which means
"red", for it is the land of Esau (Russia), Jacob's brother. It
is written in chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel that the chief prince of Meshech
(leader of Rosh, i.e. Russia) shall lead a multinational force (Gog) against
this nation, true Israel. However, God Himself shall "strike the bow from
his left hand (Ezek. 39:3)" and turn his own weapons upon him.
Let us read about this, for it is at the sound of the 7th Trump when Jesus
Christ returns that this shall take place. (The warning of the 7th
Trump is the subject of Zephaniah.)
Ezekiel
38:18
And it shall
come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel,
saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
[19]For
in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath
have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the
land of Israel;
This is the time of the pouring out of His cup of wrath.
[20]
So
that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven,
and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep
upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth,
shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and
the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
This should sound familiar to you. We read about this in
the first chapter of Zephaniah. Again, this happens
on the Great Day of Lord when the 7th Trump sounds and that 7th Vial is
poured out.
Zeph.
1:3
I will consume
man
and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and
the
fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will
cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
Let's continue in Ezekiel:
Ezekiel
38:21
And I will call
for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD:
every man's sword shall be against his brother.
[22] And
I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain
upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him,
an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
Picture what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah and you will
"see" the power of His fury!
[23]
Thus
will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself;
and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they
shall know that I am the LORD.
You see, it is for their good because
the LORD loves all His children that He performs His "wondrous works"!
They SHALL come to KNOW that He alone is LORD!
Zeph
2:9
Therefore as
I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be
as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles,
and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the
residue of my people
shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.
Our Father is not "mean spirited" but rather completely fair
and just seeing to it that everyone reaps what they have sown, i.e. that
they all get exactly what is coming to them!
[10]
This
shall they have for their pride,
because they have reproached
and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts.
[11]
The
LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will
famish all the gods
of the earth; and men shall worship Him, every one from his place,
even all the isles of the heathen.
What a great day that will be!It
is written that every knee shall bow to the King of kings and Lord of lords!
All the gods of gold and silver and power and pride, i.e. ALL idols shall
be destroyed, kaput, gone!
[12]
Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.
His sword is His Word (Rev.
1:16), His Truth, His Fire, which shall ALSO slay
ALL idolaters of whom Cushi (meaning "blackness", like those dressed
in black robes) is put forth as a type!
[13]
And he will
stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy
Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.
Assyria, the type of Babylon the great
of these end times, shall be utterly destroyed when "He stretches out His
hand"! Woe! "Babylon the Great is fallen,
is fallen! (Rev. 18:2). Nineveh, the capital
of Assyria, also a type of that great city Babylon, that harlot with whom
the kings of the earth have committed fornication, shall be dried up and
blown away in the wind of His fury! Rev. 18:21 "...Thus
with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and
shall
be found no more at all."
In other words, as the last two
verses in this chapter explain, the whole filthy corrupt One World System,
the New World Order, is coming down and it shall be replaced with the Kingdom
of Righteousness!
[14]
And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations:
both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of
it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds:
for he shall uncover the cedar work.
Do not make this difficult to understand.
God is going lay bare, make desolate, Babylon the Great and the "upper
lintels" and "windows" of her temples and palaces shall become resting
places. To "uncover the cedar work" is another figure of speech
meaning to "expose" it all, i.e. to the weather.
[15]
This
is the
rejoicing city that
dwelt carelessly,
that said in her heart,
I am, and there is none beside
me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down
in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
That great city, that great harlot
who thought she was the "cat's meow" and who sat married to the false messiah
SHALL become a DESOLATION, a resting place from henceforth! We can
read the same account in the Book of Revelation concerning the great whore,
the woman, which is that great city, even Jerusalem.
Rev.
17:18
And the woman
which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of
the earth.
As Zephaniah said, she rejoiced and
lived carelessly (meaning securely) and considered herself to be the "I
AM", a great Queen in need of no one, a Queen who shall see no "sorrow"!
Rev.
18:7
How much she
hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously,
so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit
a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Sorry Queenie! Boy are you going to get it!
[8]Therefore
shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and
she shall be utterly burned with fire: for
strong is the Lord God
who judgeth her.
Strong is the Lord God! That
is an understatement if ever there was one! There
is no power in heaven or on earth that withstand Him who has ALL POWER!
Col.
1:16-17 "For by Him were all things
created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:
all
things were created by Him, and for Him: [17]
And He is before all things, and by Him
all things consist."
[9]And
the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously
with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the
smoke of her burning,
POOF!
[10]
Standing
afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city
Babylon, that mighty city! forin one hour is thy judgment come.
Get your act together! The hour is coming!
Don't you just love it?
"The
great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly,
even
the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly."
(Zeph. 1:14)
The great Book of Zephaniah
is about the warning to all nations of the Great Day of the Lord,
the return of Yeshua Messiah,
who shall come with His saints
and subdue all nations
and set up the just and righteous
Kingdom of God upon Mt. Zion.
The apostle John gives us a "picture" of that Great Day
when the King of kings and Lord of lords returns
and subdues all nations and establishes His righteous
world rulership on earth, i.e. the Kingdom of God!
Rev.
19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He
that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness
He doth judge and make war.
There shall be another, a false
messiah also riding on a "white horse" (Rev.
6:1),
who will appear before the Faithful
and True Messiah comes
and who will claim that it is he
who is the true messiah
and he shall successfully deceive
the whole world by his signs and wonders into believing his Big Lie
(2 Thes. 2:9-12)!
Such will precipitate the fury of God's wrath to be poured
out at the sound of the 7th Trump.
[12]His
eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he
had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
There will be "fire in His
eyes" all right when Jesus Christ returns
and as we noted in our previous studies He shall utterly
"consume" with that fire all that is evil and wicked
and EVERY knee shall bow before Him.
It is important to note that the
subject being discussed here in Rev. 19 is the coming of Jesus Christ
to judge and subdue (make war)
and to rule all nations henceforth "with a rod of iron" (vs. 15).
To that end, ALL the kings of the
earth shall submit their crowns to the King of kings (He shall wear
them ALL)
who in turn shall give those crowns
to the saints of the most high who shall enforce His Word among the nations...
He knows who!
Perhaps your name is on one of those
crowns!
Rev. 5:10 "And hast made us unto
our God kings and priests: and
we shall reign on the earth."
[13]
And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called
The Word of God.
[14]And
the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed
in fine linen, white and clean.
These are the saints of the Most High who are clothed
in righteousness!
Rev. 19:8 "And to her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white: for the fine linen
is the righteousness of saints."
[15]
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He
should
smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a
rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the
fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God.
[16]And He hath
on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD
OF LORDS.
The "sharp sword" is His Word which proceeds
out of His mouth:
Rev. 1:16 "...and out of his mouth
went a sharp twoedged sword:
and his countenance was as the
sun shineth in his strength."
To rule with a "rod of iron" simply means that His
Word will be "strictly adhered to" during the Millennium,
i.e. communism, socialism, and liberalism will not be
allowed to flourish.
As it written, the announcement
of this change of government SHALL BE "proclaimed to all nations"
before that Great Day by God's
elect when they are delivered up, those "Hidden of Yah" (Zephaniah).
Joel gives us some more details of that proclamation
that shall go forth to the nations of the coming kingdom, of "He who shall
come to judge and make war":
Joel 3:9-14
Proclaim ye this among
the Gentiles; Prepare war,
wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come
up: [10] Beat
your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the
weak say, I am strong. [11] Assemble
yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round
about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. [12]
Let
the heathen be wakened, and come up to
the valley of Jehoshaphat:
for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. [13]
Put
ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the
press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is
great. [14]Multitudes,
multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is
near in the valley of decision.
"Jehoshaphat" (Jeho-shaphat) means "Jehovah-judges",
or "Yahveh pronounces sentence".
We just read that the nations shall
be gathered in the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
that Valley of Decision, and they
SHALL HEAR the "Decisions of the Judge"!
And though as we also just read "their wickedness is great",
and therefore many leaders shall not heed the warning,
nevertheless before that gathering in the
valley of decision the good news that
the Kingdom of God is coming,
i.e. the gospel of the kingdom
(coming), shall be proclaimed (heralded as a trumpet)
"in all the world for a witness
unto all nations; and then shall the end come (Matthew 24:14)".
Yes, Jesus Christ will usher in
that glorious time we call the Millennium
when justice shall be executed
and His truth shall flow as a river of living water unto all nations.
However, it is also written that
on that glorious day He returns there be a great cleansing,
a tremendous thumping, as His feet
touch down upon the Mount of Olives and it splits asunder (Zech.
14:4).
Remember, Jesus Christ told His
disciples as He departed from the temple in Jerusalem
that when He returns "there shall
not be left one stone upon another,
that shall not be thrown down
(Luke 21:6)".
That is because that great city
of Jerusalem shall have become the seat of the abomination of desolation,
the one who has come claiming he
is the messiah and claiming that the "city" belongs to him.
The truth of the matter is, as the
capital of Babylon the Great it shall have "become the habitation of devils,
and the hold of every foul spirit,
and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird (Rev. 18:2)".
Woe to that great city!
Therefore that city shall be given
the final warning, the final witness, the final "woe" as recorded here
in Zephaniah.
It shall even be in the street
(open square) of that polluted city that the two
witnesses shall lie three days
prior to the return of the King
of kings.
Rev. 11:8 "And their dead bodies
shall lie in the street of the great city, which
spiritually
is called Sodom [idolatry, spiritual perversion] and Egypt [oppression,
spiritual captivity], where also our Lord was crucified [i.e. Jerusalem]."
And now the proclamation to Jerusalem, that filthy and
polluted (Sodom), oppressing (Egypt) city!
Zeph.
3:1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the
oppressing
city!
What a sad state
of affairs this great city of Jerusalem has become!
It
is made even more sad by the fact
that
our Father personally and affectionately chose this location as His favorite
spot in all the earth
and
it shall yet become the headquarters of the universe for all eternity (Rev.
3:12, 21:2).
To that end, it would
serve one well to read the 16th chapter of Ezekiel
before completing this
final chapter in Zephaniah
to understand the tenderness
of how our Father took Jerusalem,
a city who had an unclean
birth, and cared for her and then took her to wife as His own.
(Live Link)to-Ezekiel
chapter 16
And
now just look at her!
She
is filthy (spiritually) and
unholy and polluted,
and
she is poised and ready to receive the false messiah,
the
false cornerstone of the temple (Satan standing
in the holy place),
an
abomination indeed!
Note: If you follow the current events
in the Middle East you know that there have been two attempts recently
by the Temple Mount Faithful to lay a "cornerstone" on the Temple Mount
in Jerusalem for a third temple. Watch, watchmen!
[2]
She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not
in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
She
has committed every abominable act under the sun,
including
killing the prophets and the Son of God,
but
she will NOT hearken to the voice of God.
Oh
how our Father wished she would!
Luke
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!
Zeph.
2:3
Her princes
within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw
not the bones till the morrow.
Her leaders stalk
about like roaring lions
seeking to devour everything
and everyone,
just like their father
(1
Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil,
as
a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.")
And
her "judges" are like wolves,
who
are most ravenous at evening after being foodless all day,
who
so thoroughly consume their prey
they
do not even leave a few bones to chew on the next day!
Such
is the picture of the spiritual desolation ultimately caused by the leaven,
the
doctrine, of the scribes and Pharisees!
"Then Jesus said unto
them,
Take
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."
[4]
Her
prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests
have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence
to the law.
Her
religious leaders have also gone the way of their father.
Like father, like son!
Here
is what Christ said to scribes and Pharisees:
John
8:41 "Ye do the deeds of your father... [44] Ye are of your father
the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he
is a liar, and the father of it."
Their
father, the devil,
both
polluted the sanctuary and did violence (better
translated "corruption")
to
the law of God in the first age and there is nothing new under the sun,
i.e.
in this earth age!
Ezekiel
28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of
thee with violence [corruption], and thou hast sinned [chata = "drawn away"
God's children]: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain
of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the
stones of fire.
Mountains
are symbolic of nations (even governments)
and
the "stones of fire" are the children of God
(God is a consuming fire
- Heb. 12:29)
represented
by those 12 stones the Levitical priests wore in their breastplates.
You
will find in Ezek. 28:13 that Satan ALSO wore those stones
for
they are all listed there as "his covering", i.e. something he wore!
That's
right, Satan was once a high priest among our people
and
he walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire!
He
is soon coming to walk up and down and stand in the midst of those stones,
even
the temple of God, once again!
[17]
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy
wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will
lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
[18]Thou
hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities,
by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from
the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will
bring thee to
ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
We
just read Satan's sentencing from the Supreme Judge
and
his sentence reads DEATH,
"To
be executed in the lake of fire! No appeal!"
In
other words, Satan has been sentenced by God to PERISH,
to
be totally consumed,
to
be turned to ashes whereby he shall cease to exist (see
next verse).
That is why he is called
the "son of perdition",
the son who will perish!
This
same fate (perishing, not frying forever)
awaits all the incorrigibly wicked,
i.e.
those who believe not Christ, at their judgment at the end of the
Millennium.
Of
course the alternative to perishing is to believe the Son of God
and receive eternal life.
John
3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."
Otherwise,
just like the son of perdition
you
shall be consumed in the lake of fire and "never shalt thou be any more"!
[19]
All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou
shalt be a terror, and
never shalt thou
be any more.
The great
day of the LORD is near, it is near
Our Father is completely
just and fair!
He
is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).
Therefore
understand that if He did not bring the wicked and the unjust to
judgment,
He
Himself would commit iniquity.
This He will not do!
Zephaniah
3:5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every
morning doth he bring His judgment to light, he faileth not; but the
unjust
knoweth no shame.
God will not do iniquity
by letting their unrepentant sins go unpunished.
That would be wrong,
indeed!
[6]
I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets
waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there
is no man, that there is none inhabitant.
I
believe there is enough documented historical evidence
from
two
earth ages to make the case, don't you?
[7]
I said,
Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction;
so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but
they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.
You would think they
would get the message and heed the warning!
Surely!
But NO!
Well, after the final
proclamation goes forth from the two witnesses
they will not be able
to say, "Gee, I didn't know.
Talk to my attorney!"
Sorry!
See you in the Valley
of Jehoshaphat!
[8]Therefore
wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey
[enemy]: for my determination is to gather the nations,
that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them
mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all
the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
Dr. Bullinger points out in the
Companion Bible (pg. 1274)
that this verse actually contains ALL
the letters of the Hebrew alphabet
including the five final letters!
"This implies that the verse takes
in the whole purpose of Jehovah concerning Israel.",
he writes.
And
so it does,
for
the Plan of God is being worked out here on this earth
as
His children walk "under the sun", i.e. in temporary flesh bodies,
wherein
the "fruits of their spirit" are manifested (made known, brought forth)
in the flesh
and
cast upon others which in the case of the wicked
may
inflict great pain and cause suffering and even death,
yet
without destroying the soul.
For
you see, when Jesus Christ returns
and
"utterly consumes all things from off the land (Zeph. 1:2)", i.e. ends
this flesh age,
He
will at the same time destroy Babylon the Great
and
end the confusion of the Tower of Babel
and
turn the people to a pure language.
[9]
For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call
upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
This
means more than just turning the people back to the language of the angels,
even
pure Hebrew,
but
it means to give them "clean lips" (from the Word of God)
that
"they may all call upon the name of the LORD to serve Him with one
consent".
[10]
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of
my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.
This
is the good news... no, the great news,
the
promise written throughout the scriptures by all the prophets
of
the restoration of His scattered people!
This
happens during the Millennium which begins on the Great Day of the Lord's
return.
And you know what....?
"The
great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly,
even
the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly."
(Zeph. 1:14)
So many Christian
preachers and teachers shy away
from teaching the "negative"
part of God's plan,
even
claiming publicly before the world that they do not know "why"
God
allows "bad things" to happen in the world.
And
though they may be well intentioned and are basically good people,
they
have failed to see His great purpose
in
the lessons and the "tribulations" of this "temporary" flesh age
because
they have failed to study His Word line by line
in
place of teaching the vain (empty) traditions of men
which
provide no meat for understanding.
They
therefore do not really know the "Love" of God
which
involves even severe chastisement at times,
for
the GOOD of His children because He loves them.
As it is written in 2
Pet. 3:9, it is His desire that NONE should perish,
but that all should
come to repentance.
All
that many people know about the fear (reverence,
i.e. love) of God
is
the sugar sweet "little baby Jesus" stuff they are taught,
the
"just
have love in your heart and be sweet as pie to everyone".
They
are taught the "precepts of men" and church traditions
and
so their "hearts", i.e. their minds, have been removed from Him,
from
the Word of God.
Though
they say "Lord, Lord" and "Praise the Lord",
they
are ignorant of the knowledge of His Word!
Isaiah
29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as
this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour
me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear
toward me is taught by the precept of men.
Yet
even so,
they
are still without excuse of basic understanding
because
even nature itself teaches that we must go through the night,
the
appointed time of darkness, before the light begins to dawn!
That's
right, the night comes first,
"And
the evening and the morning were the first day".
Unfortunately,
it seems that most men must first go through a storm
before
they can appreciate the beautiful sunshine.
Nevertheless,
that which "seems" grievous, even chastisement,
even
the chastisement of the great spiritual tribulation of the king of Babylon,
shall
yield fruit...nay...the peaceable fruit of righteousness...unto
them
which
bore the chastisement.
In
other words,
AFTERWARD
many shall learn their lessons and shape up!
THAT
is a GOOD THING.
That
is love:
Hebrews
12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth
to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
[12] Wherefore
lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.
To
that end,
every
one of the prophets of God who have foretold us of the captivity
and
the tribulations and the famines and the pestilences, etc., etc.,
to
befall our people have also given us the GOOD NEWS of the promise of His
salvation
and
the restoration of His people when the kingdom of God is established upon
Mt. Zion.
The
plan is written!
The
end has been declared from the beginning!
Here then is the great
prophet Zephaniah's (Hidden of Yah)
declaration of the good
news for Mt. Zion and the city of Jerusalem,
the future seat of the
eternal Kingdom of God.
Zeph.
3:11
In that day
shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed
against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that
rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy
mountain.
There will be a cleansing in Jerusalem
and upon Mt. Zion (Luke 21:6). God will clear out, take away out of the
midst of her, the arrogant and the proud, i.e. there will no longer be
pride or haughtiness including that abominable one and his cronies standing
on God's holy mountain claiming that city is his!
Hit the road, jack! The saints are movin'
in!
[12]
I
will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and
they shall trust in the name of the LORD.
The afflicted ones, God's elect who
are delivered up (Mark 13:9-12), shall be blessed indeed, for they shall
be established on Mt. Zion. Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are they which are persecuted
(afflicted) for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
In other words, the haughty and the proud will be destroyed and cast out
of that bloody city and replaced with God's elect, even those who were
delivered up and withstood the spiritual onslaught and great affliction.
They are the humble, which is what "poor in spirit" means. They are those
who grieved, as in lamented, over the sins of the great city! They are
those strong Christian soldiers who even now stand up in the face of men,
yet are meek before their God in whose POWER they are made strong!
Yes, the afflicted and the poor, those who "trust in the
name of the LORD", shall He leave in the midst of Mt. Zion when He sets
up His kingdom.
Matthew
5:3
Blessed are
the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And they shall reign in that kingdom as kings and priests
of the Most High throughout the Millennium: Rev. 5:10 "And hast made us
unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." (See
also Rev. 20:6.)
[4]
Blessed
are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
They that mourn for truth and justice to prevail shall be
comforted when the King of kings comes and pours out His wrath and executes
His justice in all the earth, ridding that seething cauldron, that city
of transgression, of all the arrogant and haughty and proud!
Jesus Christ came at His first advent
as the Lamb of God to shed His blood and pay the price on the cross and
open up salvation to ALL nations and peoples and kindreds and tongues.
However, He is coming at His second advent as the mighty King of kings
and Lord of lords to subdue all nations and execute justice (avenge righteousness)
in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3). Both His advents are recorded in
Isaiah 61:2, the first half of which Christ read in the temple (Luke 4:17-20)
before He closed the book and sat down, for it alone applied to the first
advent. The second half of the verse which applies to His second advent
shall be fulfilled when He returns on that Great Day of the LORD! Isaiah
61:2 "To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and
the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn."
[5]
Blessed
are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Wow, that is quite an inheritance,
isn't it? Romans 8:17 "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God,
and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together."
Zeph.
3:13
The remnant
of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful
tongue be found in their mouth: for
they shall feed and lie down,
and none shall make them afraid.
The remnant are God's elect who even
now "feed and lie down" in His green pastures (His Word), afraid of nothing
and no one! How so? They trust in the Lord
their God!
Psalm
23:1
The LORD is
my shepherd; I shall not want.
[2]
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me
beside the still waters.
[3] He
restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His
name's sake.
[4]
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me.
[5]
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
[6]
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and
I
will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
The victory is ours! And as it is written,
it shall be a time of great rejoicing when the King of kings returns!
The city of our God shall be cleansed and filled with the righteousness
of the saints! Sing, rejoice, O daughter of Zion!
Zeph.
3:14
Sing, O daughter
of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter
of Jerusalem.
God's elect who know that the end as
been declared from the beginning rejoice with all their heart even now!
[15]
The
LORD hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy:
the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou
shalt
not see evil any more.
The false king, that "Malcham" we read
about in chapter one, even Satan as the false-christ, shall be cast out
when all the "stones" of that idolatrous temple are destroyed on that Great
Day when the true King of kings, the King of Israel, even Jesus Christ,
returns! You shall NO MORE, from hence forth, see evil in that great
city!
By the way, do you know where Malcham will be cast?
As it is written in Rev. 20:2, Michael shall bind him and place him in
the pit during the Millennium and as it is written in Isa. 14, people will
walk by and "look upon him narrowly", i.e. look down upon him, and marvel
and say "Is this the man who deceived the nations?"
Isaiah
14:15
Yet thou shalt
be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
[16] They
that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying,
Is
this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?
The false king, that "Malcham" we read about in chapter one,
even Satan as the spurious messiah, shall be cast out when all the
"stones" of that idolatrous temple are destroyed on that Great Day when
the true King of kings, the King of Israel, even Jesus Christ, returns!
You shall NO MORE, from hence forth, see evil in that great city!
By the way, do you know where Malcham will be cast? As
it is written in Rev. 20:2, Michael shall bind him and place him in the
pit during the Millennium and as it is written in Isa. 14, people will
walk by and "look upon him narrowly", i.e. look down upon him, and marvel
and say "Is this the man who deceived the nations?"
Isaiah
14:15
Yet thou shalt
be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
[16] They
that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying,
Is
this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?
That's
right! He is NOT a god! He never was! (Cue the false-christ, Satan's, theme
song, "The Great Pretender".)
Zeph. 3:16
In that day
it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine
hands be slack.
Micah 5:9 "Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries,
and all thine enemies shall be cut off." There shall be nothing to fear
because the Mighty King shall be in our midst (next verse)!
[17]The
LORD thy God in the midst of theeis mighty; He will
save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in his love,
He will joy over thee with singing.
Almighty God, the Savior of His people,
will rejoice over His children and over the city He so loves. Yes, the
LORD God loves to sing! Have you not read that the psalmist David was a
man after His own heart (Acts 13:22)?
[18]
I
will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are
of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
At the sound of the 7th Trump He will
gather them that are "sorrowful for the solemn assembly", which would better
be translated "afflicted for (because of, during) the appointed time",
i.e. who suffered the reproach, bore the burden during that season, that
final season of the generation of the fig tree!
[19]Behold,
at
that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her
that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise
and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.
"That time" is the subject of this
Book of Zephaniah, even that Great Day of the return of the Prince of Peace,
the Savior, and the Redeemer of His people who were driven out and scattered
among the nations and orphaned and widowed and made lame (halteth)! It
shall come to pass through the "wondrous works of God", even after the
manner of plagues of Egypt (see Habakkuk), that ALL nations shall come
to know that He ALONE is the LORD God, the great "I AM", and there is NONE
OTHER! And that holy nation of His people Israel, whom He shall gather
upon Mt. Zion, shall once again become a shining light unto ALL the world.
What is really exciting about all
this is that you and yours of this generation of the fig tree shall witness
His glorious return and SEE the restoration of the Kingdom of God upon
this earth. As it is written in the next verse, He shall turn back the
captivity of our people and He shall do it right "Before Your Eyes"!
[20]
At
that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for
I
will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth,
when I
turn back your captivity before your eyes,
saith the LORD.
Yes, the Great Day of the Lord draws
nearer and nearer. What a glorious day that will be for His children who
love and serve Him for they shall be "Hidden of Yah", hidden under His
wings of protection as the great eagle fluttereth over her young (Deut.
32:11)! In other words, God's wrath will not be poured out on His children
who love and serve Him for He is not angry with them. But what a shameful
day, a day of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, it will be for
His enemies and yes, even for ALL those who follow after the false king,
Malcham!
Zeph.
1:14
The great day
of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth
greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry
there bitterly.
Where will you be on that great day?
The choice is yours! Do not be deceived by Malcham when he arrives at the
sound of the 6th Trump. Wait upon the Lord, trust in Him, stay in His Word,
eat only from His Green Pasture (His Word) and you shall NEVER be ashamed!
Joel
2:26
And ye
shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the
name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and
my
people shall never be ashamed.
[27]
And
ye
shall know that I AM in the midst of Israel, and that
I AM
the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never
be ashamed.
To study the Bible is the noblest of all
pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, you accomplish both.
This
"American
Wisdom Series" pamphlet
is
Published
by:
Rhine
Publishing Co.
But,
you must know
Him and He must know you.
You can only
know Him through His Word!
To know you,
He must have
seen your face regularly in the pages of His book!
Yes, the little
black one, right there on your coffee table.