Considering recent events, like the US Election, I would like to talk about politics, but I won’t! Except to tell you that Donald Trump can’t save the USA! The Judgment of God is coming and there is no politician on this planet who can hold it off! If the people of the United States were to fall at the feet of Jesus and beg forgiveness, and receive Him as Saviour, then maybe judgment could be held off for a few years, but I can’t see that happening! The people who hate God are doubling down and shaking their fists at Him, and His people!
At the same time the people who profess to Love God are giving in to the pressure and are not standing with their Saviour, for the most part!
Most Christians accepted Covid vaccines even though they were created with cell lines taken from living bodies of aborted babies, shortly before they were left to die! How many people accepted these vaccines and don’t see the parallels to ancient Israel who sacrificed their children to the pagan god Moloch? Did God bring judgment on ancient Israel? Then you can be sure He is going to do the same to the nation where you live!
I’m not going to continue with this thought except to note that the ancient sins of the human race are still with us today! I also want to point out that in Judgment God always offers mercy to those who accept Him, and repent! In all the End Time passages of the bible mercy is always evident in the midst of Judgment!
I have a question for you;
Do you remember how Zechariah 13 says that 1/3 of Israel will survive the Tribulation to go into the Millennial Kingdom?
8 “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.”
Okay, now in the next chapter he continues the thought and divides the nation into 3 parts; one part he had already mentioned, and now he divides the 2/3 into two parts.
Please read this section from Zechariah 14 and tell me which third part of Israel is obeying a command from Jesus?
1 “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” Zechariah 14:1-5
If you answered “the part of Israel found in verse 5” you would be correct.
Did you notice that he addresses them with “ye”? This is the plural form of the personal pronoun. It indicates that the writer is directly addressing a group of people; this group of people read the bible, so he is speaking directly to them! They are mostly believers by the time they flee from the abomination of desolation, and will all be believers in a short time!
Which command are they obeying?
The one found in Matthew 24:15-18
15 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.”
It is also found in Mark 13:14-16
14 “But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judæa flee to the mountains:
15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house:
16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.”
This is the only time Israel is told to flee, and therefore this can be the only command they are obeying in Zechariah 14:5. This gives us the timing of this flight, since we are told when the Abomination of Desolation will occur; in the middle of the Tribulation!
We have a problem here, however, for if Zechariah 14 occurs three plus years after the Abomination of Desolation then Jesus was wrong to say that they need to flee that day! If they are still alive and able to flee over three years after the Abomination of Desolation then Jesus’ command to flee in haste was unnecessary! What are you inadvertently saying about Jesus?
When you say that Jesus returns at the end of the Tribulation, and Israel can wait to flee until that day, you are saying that what He said in Matthew 24:15-18 was wrong!
The other thing you are saying, when you say this, is that “the Good Shepherd” leaves his sheep to face the wolves of the Beast Kingdom for over three years before coming to their rescue!
Here’s an observation you should probably think about; if Israel can resist the Antichrist for over three years, on their own, then why would they need rescuing? No, they need Him the day they flee from the abomination of desolation!
Something else you should think about is the fact that Israel is fleeing without any provisions! They are leaving with only the clothes on their backs, and only the food that is in their pockets, or backpacks! If they carry any food with them it will be gone within hours! As Daniel tells us in 9:27 the abomination of desolation occurs in the middle of the Tribulation;
“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 9:27
Midst = Middle
No! When Israel gets to where they are going they will need someone to care for them and to provide them with food Immediately, and for the next 3 1/2 years! Only a person who can create Manna, or take five loaves, and two fish, to feed thousands could manage to feed this much larger crowd of people! And, He is going to be there with them in their hour of need! He is their Good Shepherd!
Notice the other two groups in verse 2 are not fleeing! These are the two thirds of Israel which will die during the Tribulation. The first group is taken captive, but the other group is left alone in Jerusalem!
The group that is taken captive is the group that takes up arms against the Antichrist; Jesus did not command them to fight against the Beast, but to flee! It is understandable that they would want to fight the Beast when he sets up his Abomination in the Temple. Those who only read the Old Testament will understand that the Beast is the “Little Horn”, and that they are seeing the “abomination of desolation” but if they are only reading the Old Testament they will not have seen Jesus’ command to flee.
In rebelling against the Antichrist this group will trigger the conflict we know as Armageddon!
Those who read Zechariah 14 will see Israel fleeing, but if they are not reading Matthew or Mark they will not understand how Jesus puts Daniel 9:27 and Zechariah 14:1-5 together. It might be that a few believers are among this group, perhaps being compelled to fight the Beast by friends or colleagues. Some of this group might actually get saved before they die, but die they will!
Verse 2 says this about the third group; “the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” This is just after saying that half of them will go into captivity. Here is a little math question: If you have a group of people and then take away half, what size is the residue? I’ll give you a hint: half!
Here is another question this brings up; What possible fact could cause the armies of the Antichrist to leave a third of Jerusalem’s Jewish residents alone in that city? (that’s half of what was left after the first third, the believers, fled at the abomination of desolation)
The answer is as simple as it is shocking! They are left alone because they have taken the mark of the Beast! Satan has no problem with this group of Jews still being in Jerusalem! He is quite happy with leaving them there! This is because the Antichrist knows that he has them! The moment they took his mark their fate was sealed! He knows Revelation 14:9-11
9 “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
Satan knows that Jesus will ultimately destroy everyone who has taken the mark of the Beast, so he is fine with leaving them in Jerusalem! No doubt he will tell them that “you are my chosen people”, and he will laugh as they are destroyed!
In Hosea 5, Jesus speaks through the prophet Hosea in verse 15
“I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.”
Their “affliction” is the seven year Tribulation. Notice that they don’t seek Him “later” nor do they seek Him “at the end”, but “early”! The Rapture of the Church is the “wake-up call” for Israel, and they will begin to seek the Lord immediately after this event! They will find the Rapture in their own Scriptures, because it is there in at least five places, and then they will seek the Lord Jesus Christ!
I hope you will go over these verses again, and pray about what they are saying. It seems like the bible actually teaches that Jesus will return in the middle of the Tribulation, probably on the very day of the abomination of desolation, and possibly during the very ceremony that the Beast and False Prophet use to introduce the Mark of the Beast!
Dan
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