Jerusalem, A Burdensome Stone

 

Jerusalem, A Burdensome Stone - by Pastor Mike Taylor -

http://pastormiketaylor.blogspot.com/2017/04/jerusalem-burdensome-stone.html

 

2 "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:2-3)

 

Many think that maybe I spend a lot of time on Israel with so much attention on the Middle East, and in particular the nation of Israel.

 

Prophecy has a habit of coming back to Israel, as this tiny nation is the linchpin in studying Bible prophecy and what is coming upon the earth, which may have already started as birth pangs. Jesus described the signs of His return in Matthew's Gospel:

 

3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

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.

6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

8 All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matthew 24:3-8)

 

Jesus describes the events of His return as a man who is standing on the Mount of Olives in that perspective. Without Israel, prophecy doesn't make much sense. Many believe erroneously that the Church has replaced Israel as God's focus for the end times, so they have no use for prophecy. These blinded people are called Preterist. They believe that all prophecy has been fulfilled in 70 AD and Israel as a people have been cast away and replaced by the church. Of course, they are wrong, so why do I think that?

 

Center of Global Attention

 

In our modern world, you don't listen to the news very long, before it comes back to Israel. Israel is at the top of the world's agenda and my mission when I post such messages, is to keep my focus on documenting the world's slide toward the coming Tribulation using secular sources to demonstrate the accuracy of Bible prophecy when speaking of Israel.

 

Bible prophecy for the last days and through the Tribulation is centered around Israel beginning with Daniel's 70th week prophecy:

 

24 "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." Daniel 9:24-27)

 

This passage points that the End of this Age centers around Israel and she becomes the  mile marker of where we are in prophecy. The closer she looks to be in trouble for her very existence and possible annihilation, the closer we are to the return of Christ , Who, according to scripture prevents that from happening.

 

The Eternal Generation

 

In a very real sense, what we are witnessing is not the actual fulfillment of prophecy for the last days.  The next prophetic event to be fulfilled in the Church Age is the Rapture.  Then the events of the Tribulation follow.  Both remain future -- near future, we would argue.

 

So instead we are eyewitnesses to various stages of the coming process of the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. The Bible says that there are a number of seemingly unrelated events that take place in ONE generation, and I would argues WE are that generation that are seeing this events being played out, right before our eyes, on the world stage.

 

Bible Prophecy Demands A Jewish State

 

Some people scoff and say that their mother or grandmother was looking for the return of Jesus Christ and it didn't happened. So they say "What makes you so sure that His return is any closer than it was for them". I point out to them that in their time of their aged family when they were alive, there was one element that was missing. Israel had not been born a nation just yet, so Bible prophecy and the countdown to the return of Jesus Christ for His church and the beginning of the Tribulation was not in their radar screen, but it is on ours. 

 

Bible prophecy makes numerous references to the existence of a Jewish state, we call Israel in the last days.

 

In the prophecy of the valley of dry bones, God makes a point of revealing this truth to His servant Ezekiel and by extention, to us. 

 

"11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,

14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the  Lord." (Ezekiel 37:11-14)

 

And furthermore, the Bible also demands that Israel be in possession of the city of Jerusalem in the last days. Although Israel endures international disputes, but none the less, they captured the city and returned it to Israeli sovereignty. This happened in 1967:

 

6 "In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.

7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.

8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." (Zechariah 12:7-9)

 

And because of Israel being in her promised land again, and capturing the Holy City of Jerusalem, the Bible prophesies numerous conflicts with her neighbors where God has judged their anger against Israel. Let's look at a few passages.

"Because you have said, 'These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess them,' although the LORD was there, therefore, as I live," says the Lord GOD, "I will do according to your anger and according to the envy which you showed in your hatred against them; and I will make Myself known among them when I judge you." (Ezekiel 35:10-11)

 

"But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the LORD." (Ezekiel 36:8-11)

 

We await the next two wars that will involve Israel personally and she will be supernaturally saved by God Himself ..

 

2 "For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:

6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;

8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. " 9Psalm 83:2-8)

 

This passage describes the neighbors surrounding Israel coming again trying to drive Israel into the Mediterranean Sea, but God intervenes and they are not successful.

 

13 "O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.

16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Lord.

17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:

18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth." (Psalms 83;13-18)

 

And we await the final conflict before the Tribulation begins, and it may be that the Church of the Living God may not even see this battle, as I believe that this will bring to bear the confirmation of a covenant already in place, by none other, than the Anti-Christ.

 

15 "And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:

16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes." 'Ezekiel 38:15-16)

 

Prophecy students will recognize this as the Gog-Magog invasion of Israel that will destroy 5/6 of the invaders carrying back the plague to their homeland as the survivors come to their countries.

 

Bible Prophecy Demands A Global Government

 

Throughout history, men have sought to rule the world.  And throughout history, other men have resisted the attempt.  In the last two global wars, the effort began with the conquest of Europe. 

 

Following the last attempt, the Benelux Treaty brought together the first six European states, forming the nucleus of the modern European Union.  Wars couldn't unite them.  Peace did

 

23 " And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." (Daniel 8:23-25).

 

The same global war was responsible for the creation of the United Nations.  The UN created the template for a global government.  But the UN is an organism with 191 heads and no brain.  It doesn't take a political scientist to see it is a failed experiment. 

 

How Europe will eventually replace the UN is unclear, but it is the most likely candidate -- the world would never accept the US or Russia. Europe would be far more acceptable.  The Bible says it will happen.

 

1 "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." (Revelation 13:1-5) So begins the global government of the AC.

 

Bible Prophecy Demands a Global Economy

 

The global economy is a reality.  The prophecy of the Mark of the Beast [Rev 13:17] demands a system whereby the buying and selling of individuals will be tracked and monitored.  Those outside the economic system of antichrist will be 'unable to buy or sell'. In one of my last messages, I spoke of technology increasing at a lightning pace, to where even now, humans can have computer inplanted in their brains to compute thousands of times faster than a normal human, and this technology that was not possible just 50 years ago, has grown to where every man and woman on this planet can and will be monitored for compliance of the coming New World Order. Technology to accomplish this is in place.

 

Entry into the system requires some kind of mark of allegiance to the coming Antichrist.  Tracking sales is a reality.  Nobody can function in today's economy unless they are in the 'system'.  If you doubt it, get a bank account without a Social Security number or try and buy a new car using cash. 

 

Bible Prophecy Demands a Global Religion

 

The coming Mark of the Beast is an economic system to track all human activity, but is also a system of worship. Thre is coming a man, who may be on the scene right now, who will arise having two horns like a lamb but speaks as a dragon.

 

11 "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live."(Revelation 13:11-14)

 

There is only one religious system in place today, that could and will command allegiance from all those who are left on this planet after the removal of the Church of Jesus Christ. Some think it will be Islam, but I am a proponent that after the Gog-Magog war's total defeat of invading armies who are mostly if not majority Muslim by birth, Islam will be decimated and never to rise again. That leaves only one other religion with the clout to pull this off. That system is the Roman Catholic Church headed by the coming false prophet found in their leader of apostacy, the Pope in Rome.

 

A counterfeit Christianity preaching another Jesus and a different gospel has been the accusation of many concerning the Roman Church.  They are already well entrenched in mainstream Christian denominations that teach salvation by works, church membership or ritual and have for centuries. 

 

6 "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:6-9)

 

There are many religions that preach another Gospel besides what was first delievered to the saints and all of them are demon inspired, but we know of one religion on earth who has more adherents and has perverted the Word of God for nigh 1700+ years...Need I say more?

 

The war on terror has also created a global suspicion of fundamental anything. 

 

What is a Fundamentalist?

 

Since we have been fighting the war on terror for a number of years, the world is suspicious of anything that is called "Fundamental". 

 

To a Christian, a fundamentalist is one who practices the fundamentals of Christian faith, eschewing traditions of men and preferring the Word of God, but the world has a different perspective. . 

 

The secular world looks at fundamentalists, be they Jewish, Christian, Muslim -- they're all bombers.  Christian fundamentalists blow up abortion clinics, Jewish fundamentalists blow up Arabs and Muslim fundamentalists blow up anybody.  That is the prevailing propaganda that fills our news reports daily and is a perception that is being fostered in the sheeple that are easily led astray.

 

It isn't a stretch of anyone's imagination for the sudden legitimization of "so called faith" no matter what flavor of the month is being presented, whether it be Jehovah, Jesus, Isa, or Allah. These will be eventually blended together and there is been a big push by one mainline religion to bring all religions home to the "Mother Church". It will promote a global ecumenical belief in one "god" for all. Those who hold the "old ways" will be considered fundamentalist and be eliminated. 

 

WHERE ARE WE IN PROPHECY? 

 

I get lots of email asking where we are in Bible prophecy right now.  Israel was reborn in 1948.  The Benelux Treaty was signed in 1948.  The World Council of Churches was created in Amsterdam in 1948.  The transistor -- the invention credited as giving birth to the Computer Age [making possible a global economy] was invented in 1948. 

 

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades [forerunner to the World Trade Organization] was signed in 1948.  Where are we in Bible prophecy right now?  Jesus said 'when these things begin to come to pass, look up'

 

28 "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28) 

33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."(Matthew 24:28-35)

 

Look at how things have progressed in the last almost 70 years since Israel became a nation. Are you astonished, or is it becoming the new norm to you? Jesus said this generation shall not pass away till all things be fulfilled.

 

34 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matthew 24:34-39)

 

I know I keep bringing this up and I wouldn't say it so much if where not so important for the salvation of mankind and not being thrown head long into the coming Tribulation. What is a generation, that Jesus spoke of? Psalms 90;

 

"The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." (Psalm 90:10)

 

A little simple math will alert the Bible reader, that we are approaching 70 years since Israel was made a nation. This is not a prediction, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:

 

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

 

"So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.

 

Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." (Mark 13:20-30) 

 

As noted, this development surrounds and swirls within the tiny nation of Israel. If you want to know how close we are in Bible prophecy, then watch Israel and compare it to God's Word. 

 

Where are we in Bible prophecy right now?

 

Near.  Even at the doors.