SIGNS THAT PASS SILENTLY BY

SIGNS THAT PASS SILENTLY BY

                “But as for you Bethlehem Ephrata, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” Mica 5:2

                Such a prophecy as this one in Micah cannot be construed in any other way than to be the announcement of a coming King who is eternal. It tells where He will be born and that He is appointed by God to be ruler over Israel. So we quote this text around Christmas time as we celebrate the birth of Christ, but the message continues on into our present day and we have to ask ourselves if we are just as blind as the people where who failed to recognize Jesus the first time around. It says:

                “Therefore He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child.” Micah 5:3a

                When I read this this morning, I couldn’t help but remember the event of September 23 of 2017 when for the first and only time in history, the constellation Virgo gave birth to Jupiter, the king sign as described precisely in Revelation chapter 12. It was amazing indeed, because Jupiter actually went back and forth, from our perspective in the womb of the virgin for a whole nine months and then exited the womb on September 23 of 2017.

                Genesis 1:14 tells us that the sun, moon and stars were created by God for signs and for seasons (Moedim) appointed times. And accordingly we have entered into a general period of time when signs are appearing to let us know that we have entered a specific period of time both for Israel and the world when these ancient prophecies are going to come one upon another in increasing labor pains.

                But let’s look at this one phrase (He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has born a child.) This certainly applies to the birth of Christ to the Virgin Mary at His first coming but Paul places it as an end time event as well. So this sentence not only brings to mind the sign of Revelation 12, but it also brings to mind Romans 11:25 where Paul tells us saying:

                “For I do not want you, brethren to be uninformed of this mystery lest you be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel UNTIL THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES HAS COME IN and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION…”

                In other words, upon their rejection of their Messiah, God gave them up even imposing a partial blindness upon them for the past 2000 years, while He grafts the Gentiles (Us) into the Jewish Olive Tree as wild branches. (Romans 11:17-19) But we are quickly approaching the end of this grafting we call “The times of the Gentiles” and even though we have watched many Jews flocking back to Israel over the past 70 years, I tend to believe that a specific time is just ahead of us when a far greater flock of both Jews and Israelites will be forced back to their homeland, perhaps by persecution and or war.

                Now this final gathering of the people to Israel is said to be done in the last days by the prophet Elijah, for Malachi says:

                “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord and he will restore the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the land with a curse.” Mal. 4:5, 6.

                So the Jews are indeed counting on the return of Elijah and that is why they set a place at the table for him every year at the Passover Seder. But this event should begin to make our spines tingle because we see in Revelation 11 that Elijah will appear as one of the two witnesses and their appearing is directly connected to the construction of the 3^rd temple.

                So we can let these prophecies, these signs pass silently by as we go about our business, or we can take them seriously and to realize that God has been shouting at us from the sky and from His Word and from the increasing turbulence of weather and earthquake and volcano and the drastic rise in hatred and violence in the world that we are entering into the final birth pangs leading to the coming of Christ.

                It doesn’t really matter much whether we like President Trump or we hate him, but it represents our shallow thinking if we put much stock in our feelings one way or the other, because it appears that God is using him to set end time events into place. These underlying issues are much more spiritual than political as the forces of good and evil begin to clash together in unprecedented ways. Think about this.

1.       Rabbis in Israel have designated Donald Trump as their Cyrus who will enable the building of the third temple.

2.       Rabbis in Israel have just recently designated Netanyahu as their long awaited Messiah.

3.       Pope Benedict has recently designated Pope Francis as being either the antichrist or the false prophet of Revelation 13.

                Can we really ignore these signs and pretend that life is going on as usual? Can we ignore other signs like the great falling away, in which many Protestant churches, in spite of his blasphemous words and ways of Pope Francis, are going back to Rome with hat in hand to take part in his global religion?

                Even the Catholics are in turmoil over what Pope Francis is doing and God’s people among the Catholics are seeking to distance themselves from what he is doing and saying, even to the point of a schism in the church. But all of this uncertainty in the church as a whole is also causing a rapid increase in Atheism as people see the underbelly of false religion and of so called Christians that put on a façade of Christianity while living like the devil.

                In Daniel 12:6-7 Daniel asked the angel how long it would be until the end of these wonders         (referring to the time when Michael will stand up in Daniel 12:1 and the time of Jacob’s Trouble commences) and the angel told him it would be 3 ½ years and that the power of the holy people will be shattered.

                Well, are we watching the shattering of the holy people right now in the form of a great apostasy in both the church and in Israel? After all, Israel is preparing to worship the antichrist as their Messiah even as the church joins forces with Rome to do the same thing.

                Should we not be shocked and dismayed and down on our knees making sure that we are not among those that are being deceived. After all, Jesus first words concerning the last days are: “See to it that no one misleads you.” Mt. 24:4 and also He warns us in verse 24 saying. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible even the elect.”

                Friends, all I can say is that we need a kind of relationship with Jesus and His Word that is both faithful and unshakeable… and we need to seek the help of the Holy Spirit in rightly understanding Bible prophecy so that we will be able to discern the times and our own hearts.

                It is with a certain amount of grief when I say that we can’t trust anybody. Even the huge crowds that we see in these worship fests on TV are largely a delusion.  Many are not really worshipping God at all. They are worshipping worship itself and or the “Rock “ stars on the stage, and or the emotions of the moment, but when the show is over, they go out to live like the devil and they forget that one of the highest forms of worship is to be found in obedience.

                So if we aspire to be among God’s Remnant people we must be obedient and we must take up our cross and follow Jesus and we must learn to live by His Spirit and we must put no faith in our emotions, for they are not a good gauge of our relationship with God… for it is not our emotions that tell us what is right, but those who tremble at the Word of God. Isa. 66:5

                We live in a time of deception like no other time when that which is good is called “Bad” and that which is bad is called “good” and even larges parts of the church are falling for these deceptions simply because our religion has been reduced to Christian sounding sound bites that please us even as we do our own thing following after the flesh rather than the Spirit.

                Are you watching the signs and marking them, or are you letting them pass silently by unheeded?

                Each one of us must personally know where we stand and we must be ready and willing to bet our lives on it. No one, not even our Pastor can stand in our place when times of testing come.

                “Therefore, take up the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm.” Eph. 6:13

                We may get raptured out of here at some point along the way, but not until we see the great apostasy (falling away) and the man of sin (The antichrist) revealed and we are getting awfully close to that time right now. (See 2Thess. 2:1- 4) Lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing nigh.