Friday, January 25,
2013, 8:02 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song “Blessed Are You,” and this was followed
by the song “In Harmony.” Speak,
Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 13:1-13 (NIV 1984):
An oracle concerning
Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
Raise a banner on a
bare hilltop,
shout to them;
beckon to them
to enter the gates of the nobles.
I have commanded my holy
ones;
I have summoned my warriors to carry out my
wrath—
those who rejoice in my triumph.
Listen, a noise on the
mountains,
like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar
among the kingdoms,
like nations massing together!
The Lord Almighty is
mustering
an army for war.
They come from faraway
lands,
from the ends of the heavens—
the Lord and the
weapons of his wrath—
to destroy the whole country.
Wail, for the day of
the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the
Almighty.
Because of this, all
hands will go limp,
every man’s heart will melt.
Terror will seize
them,
pain and anguish will grip them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast
at each other,
their faces aflame.
See, the day of the
Lord is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land
desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
The stars of heaven
and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be
darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
I will punish the
world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to
the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
I will make man
scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
Therefore I will make
the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the
Lord Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.
The Church
It is my belief that when God comes in judgment again on the
earth at the end of time, he will judge his rebellious, unrepentant, and
lukewarm church first, indicated, I believe, by five of the seven letters to
the seven churches in Rev. 2-3, by the parallels between these prophecies in
Isaiah and the events of the last days, by the parallels between Jesus’ last
week on this earth and the time of God’s judgments at the end of time, and as
indicated by 1 Peter 4:17 and other parallel scriptures with like message, such
as Ezekiel 9.
Some Bible scholars believe there is a parallel between
Jesus’ last week on the earth and this final “week” for all those living on the
earth at the time God comes to judge. Following the triumphal entry, Jesus
cursed the fig tree, a symbol of God’s announcement of judgment on his people
because they failed to bear spiritual fruit. Then, Jesus cleared the temple,
which was a judgment on institutional religion, and because the institution of
religion had turned God’s house, his temple, now the true church, the body of
Christ, into a market place, which is what is happening in today’s
institutional church.
The cleansing of the temple thus represents a judgment for
the purpose of cleansing and revival of Christ’s church, his body. And, then
the persecution, arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus ensued, which
represents the persecution of Christ’s saints during the time of tribulation,
during which time many of them will be martyred for their faith and testimony
for Jesus Christ. And, at the end of this time there will be a resurrection of
the dead in Christ and a gathering of all of Christ’s followers to himself, and
then Christ will reign on the earth as King of kings and as Lord of Lords.
The Nations
God will also judge the nations of the world for their
rejection of Christ as Messiah, for their refusal to obey God Almighty and to
honor him as holy, for their pride and arrogance in making gods for themselves
or in thinking and acting as though they are “gods” over the people, and so
they oppress the people, and for their mistreatment of God’s saints. I believe
this judgment will produce the salvation of many lives, and that people from
all nations will flock to Jesus Christ and to the cross of Christ for their
salvation at this time. The persecution of the church throughout history has
usually advanced God’s kingdom, has brought about revival in the church, and
has produced many souls won for Christ.
This section in Isaiah with these prophecies of judgments
against the nations may have multiple levels of fulfillment, as they were most
likely already fulfilled in history, as well as they could symbolize God’s
judgments against the nations at the end of time.
For instance, this judgment against Babylon has many
parallels with God’s judgments against Babylon in Revelation 18 and 19. And,
there are many interpretations concerning this judgment against Babylon as
foretold in Isaiah 13-14 and the one as foretold in Revelation 18 and 19. As
well, there are multiple deliberations or theories as to who Babylon in Isaiah
13 and/or in Revelation 18 represent. What seems to be a common interpretation
is that Babylon is symbolic of the world system and/or world powers organized
against God/Jesus Christ, his kingdom and his kingdom people, the saints of God
and followers of Jesus Christ. God has instructed his people to come out from
her so that we don’t share in any of her sins. I have also seen Babylon as the
institutional church in America which is in a contractual relationship with the
U.S. government, as well as I have seen Babylon as a picture of the government
of the USA and/or the U.N.
Spiritual Parallels
Although I believe this is a prophecy of judgment against an
actual place or against people corporately who make up a body of people who
stand in opposition to God/Jesus Christ, to the true gospel of Jesus Christ,
and to God’s true purposes for his people and the people of this world, i.e.
that this is a prophecy against what is known in scripture as the “world” or
the “world’s system,” the Lord this morning was showing me some spiritual
parallels to these physical events.
God has summoned his warriors to carry out a confrontation
with the world and the world’s system, not on a physical level, but on a
spiritual level; not with weapons of this world, but with weapons of
righteousness (see Eph. 6:10-20). We, the true followers of Jesus Christ are
his warriors in battle against Satan and his evil forces, and the goal is to
win the victory over sin and evil and to see souls won for Jesus Christ. The
warriors, nonetheless, are qualified as those who “rejoice in my triumph.” In
other words, those who are able to do spiritual battle and to win the victory
for the salvation of souls are those who rejoice in what Jesus Christ did on
the cross in dying for our sins, in his resurrection in conquering sin, hell,
death and Satan, and in what he has done in our lives in crucifying our flesh
and sin, and in giving us transformed (new) lives in Christ so that we can walk
in victory over sin, and so we can walk humbly before God in faithful obedience
to Jesus Christ.
This army God is mustering for war in this sense is a
spiritual army of people from nations all over the world. The noise, I believe,
is their voices joining together in unity in proclaiming the true gospel of
Jesus Christ throughout the world. Their weapons are those spiritual weapons
spoken about in Ephesians 6 – truth, righteousness, the beautiful feet of those
who bring the good news, faith, salvation, the word of God (of truth), and prayer
in the Spirit, etc. The fruit of the Spirit are also qualities and character
traits of the Spirit of God that also equip us for battle against evil and sin
and unbelief, as well as 1 Co. 13 fits here (the love chapter). Jesus taught us
that we are to love our enemies, we are to do good to those who hate us, say
kind things about those who curse us, and we are to pray for those who mistreat
us. And, we are to leave judgment (wrath) up to God/Jesus Christ.
These are the weapons I believe Jesus Christ wants his
children to use against their enemies and against the enemies of the cross of Christ
both now and during the time of tribulation when the body of Christ will suffer
enormous persecution and martyrdom for their testimony for Jesus Christ and for
the true gospel of salvation. And I believe scripture teaches, especially in
these previous chapters in Isaiah, that when God comes to judge that God will
cleanse his temple, that revival will take place in the church, and that
because the church is revived and they are amassing together in getting out the
gospel of Jesus Christ to as many as possible, that many people from the
nations of this globe will flock to Jesus Christ, to the cross of Christ, to
the true gospel of Jesus Christ and to salvation. Yet, we should be doing this
now.
This time of judgment to come on the earth will bring with
it severe persecution and martyrdom of God’s saints, yet we are blessed because
we are worthy to suffer for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ and for the
sake of his gospel. And, we are to rejoice that we are considered among those
whose testimony for Jesus Christ is so strong as to warrant such persecution.
In fact, we are to leap for joy in that day, for great is our reward in heaven.
Blessed Are You /
An Original Work / August 29, 2012
Based off Luke 6:20-49 NIV 1984
“Blessed are you;
Blessed are you who
are poor
For God’s kingdom is
yours.
(Kingdom is yours)
Blessed are you;
Blessed are you who
are hungry,
You’ll be satisfied.
(Be satisfied)
Blessed are you;
Blessed are you who
weep now,
For you will laugh
with joy.
(Will laugh with joy)
Blessed are you;
Blessed are you when
men hate
And reject you because
of Christ.”
(Because of Christ)
“Rejoice in that;
Rejoice in that day
and
Leap for joy; great
your reward.
(Great your reward)
But I tell you;
But I tell you to love
those
Who hate you; do them
good.
(Do good to them)
Pray for those who;
Pray for those who
treat you wrong
And say kind things of
them.
(Kind things of them)
Do to others;
Do to others as you would
have
Them do; have them do
to you.”
(Them do to you)
“If you love those;
If you love those who
love you,
What praise is there
for you?
(What praise for you?)
Because Christ is;
Because Christ is
kind,
Be merciful, just like
He is.
(Just like He is)
Forgive others;
Forgive others their
offense
Against you; be ye
kind.
(Be kind to them)
Hear My words and;
Hear My words and put
them
Into practice, then
you’ll be fulfilled.”
(You’ll be fulfilled)
In Harmony: http://originalworks.info/in-harmony/
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