​WHAT TIME IS IT? September 1997​

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. 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 12:1-2 KJV* 

Time?
What time is it? Does that seem a strange question to ask you? What should be strange is why Christians aren't asking it. The Lord made certain we would know the signs for which we were to look regarding His return. We talk about how great it will be when the Lord comes in power and might and takes us away from all the problems, pains, troubles and sorrows of life. 

As we study the New Testament, we see that God's people, the Hebrew people, did not know their Messiah when He came and dwelt among them. They were looking for one who would come in power and might and release them from their problems, pains, troubles and sorrows of life. They were looking for one who would avenge them and destroy the Roman kingdom and put the Kingdom of God in power on the throne of King David. 

You might be thinking, "That was different. We know Jesus is coming back to claim His own and take them away with Him." If that is what your waiting for, you're waiting for the wrong thing...and for the wrong reason. 

Today, the "church" is looking for the Messiah to return to "come in power and might and release them from their problems, pains, troubles and sorrows of life." They are "looking for One Who" will "avenge them and destroy the" earthly "kingdom and put the Kingdom of God in power on the throne of King David." 

What time is it? It is time to return to our first love...if that first love is our Lord Jesus Christ! I've heard people talk about their first love as being evangelism, preaching, healing, etc. If one of those, or something like them, is your first love, then you've never found the One Who is to be your First Love. 

Are you anxious for what the church calls the "rapture". Are you looking for pain and sorrow to cease and for God to put satan under your feet? Are you looking for God to destroy the ungodly? Is this what you're waiting for, looking for with great anticipation? If so, then you are a part of the "church". 

We must realize that we are the bride of Christ. We are the bride of Christ. We should be awaiting the arrival of our Bridegroom with great anticipation and expectation and love that fills and overflows and permeates our entire being. We long for the Lover of our souls to come and take us to be with Him.

If we are looking for One Who will take us away, we will miss the greatest Love-affair that has ever existed or will ever exist. He is the Lover of our soul and the God of our life. He is the Son of God, He is Lord, He is Life, He is Jesus, He...is our...Bridegroom!

It is time for Jesus Christ to reign in the hearts of those who claim to be His. If Lord Jesus Christ does not reign in your heart...your spirit man...where the Spirit of the Lord dwells...He'll never reign anywhere else in your life! Too harsh, you say? Too judgmental, you ask? No! The Truth can be as Harsh as it can be Loving. And do not confuse judgmentalism with conviction from the Holy Spirit! Time?

Until your heart is right with Lord Jesus Christ, you'd best hope you still have...time!

Behold
Most of you have probably heard the expression "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." 

I have another expression for you: "Truth is in the perception of the one perceiving." What someone holds as true does not mean it is true. 

People of many beliefs, or perceptions, die daily for what they believe, or perceive, is truth. It does not matter that it is not truth. It matters that once they die, they realize what they died for was not truth, but a finely tuned lie from satan. Truth then becomes clear, exact and eternal! 

Behold Truth....Behold Yeshua Ha Moshiach!

Behold, G-d is my Yeshua (salvation); I will trust and not be afraid; for Hashem is my strength and song; He is my Yeshua.

"...I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about..." Isaiah 12:2
Jerusalem is in the news almost daily. If there has been a terrorist bombing, then it is usually the first story. The more Jews killed, the more media coverage Israel is given. Since Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, even news in other parts of the country cause "Jerusalem" to be mentioned. Film clips are shown (some current, some old but presented as current), people are interviewed, innuendos are made, and usually, at some point in the news of the incident, the media finds a way to make the bombing seem like it is Israel's fault. 

Does it interest you that Jerusalem is so prevalent now? No? Well, it should. Scripture is full of words and signs relating to Israel, Jerusalem and the Jewish people in the end time. In the above scripture, the Spirit of the Lord gives us some specific and interesting information!

The mere mention of the word "Jerusalem" can stir people into an emotional frenzy! They will kill because of it and they will die because of it. Other people are tired of hearing so much about "Jerusalem" and wish the media would be quiet about it. Still others would gladly go there to live and others would give anything to be able to leave Jerusalem. It is an interesting lot of opinions, feelings, fears and hate.

One may stand at the remains of the Western Wall of the Temple (what some who are uninformed call the "wailing wall") and pray for the peace of Jerusalem; one may be next to him praying in an attitude of hate. 

Another may be standing on the Temple Mount (where the ungodly dome of the rock is located) and pray for allah to kill all the Jews and Christians and destroy the nation of Israel leaving only Islamists to live in the land they would call Palestine. Next to him might be one who begins throwing rocks on the Jews praying below. 

Some people, who don't live in and have never visited Jerusalem, hear the name and fear and anxiety rise up within them. 

There is a "cup of trembling" within each one of them. Why? "Tremble" means to "feel or express fear or anxiety". Those who know something of the Bible know that events in Jerusalem are very key to the end time. Those who aren't familiar with the Bible don't know why it bothers them. They just know it does. Some will even begin listening to "teachers of prophecy" when tragic events occur in Jerusalem. Truly, Jerusalem is a "...cup of trembling unto all the people round about..."

"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people."
Have you been keeping up with the international news? How about the daily news from the UN? Well, even if you're only a casual news listener, you're bound to have heard the word "Jerusalem" on several occasions just this year. 

Isn't it interesting how one small city in the tiny country of Israel can cause so much anger, so much hate, so much violence? Ever wondered why? You should!

The answer is found in the Bible...the Holy Scriptures...the Word of Almighty God. You won't find the answer in the Qur'an, the Book of Mormon or any other book claiming to be the ultimate word from a superior being! It is found only in the Word written by the Creator of all there is.

When God set a people apart for His Own, He called them the Hebrew people. At sometime in the course of history, they became known as the Jews or Jewish people.

From their conception onward to today, there has been a non-stop battle from satan to destroy the Jewish people: God's Chosen People.

God deemed the Land of His Jewish people to be Israel. Regarding Jerusalem He further said, "...that My servant David may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen for Myself to put My name..."I Kings 11:36 NASB 

"...And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, 'In Jerusalem will I put my name'..."II Kings 21:4 NASB

"...in the house of which the LORD said to David and to his son Solomon, 'In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever,'..."

​
From the time that God proclaimed the city of Jerusalem to be His Own Holy City, satan has been after the city. You know, it gets real simple at this point...either Jerusalem is the Holy City of God....or God is a liar! It really is just that simple!

Satan has used Christians, Turks, Arabs, countless peoples to try to remove God's Chosen People from God's Chosen City in God's Chosen Land. The most interesting and profound thing, however, is that satan can't win. God has designated His People, His City and His Land and all the plans of satan and the participants of his kingdom will not be and cannot be successful!

Jerusalem is like a large stone hanging around the neck of so many people and countries and faiths. Yet they can't have what they want...Jerusalem, Israel. It is uniquely God's! Many times in history it has appeared that satan was winning. But that was a smoke screen behind which satan and his followers hid, claiming "success". God has said that His city would become a burdensome stone...it has and IT IS!

"...all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces..." Zechariah 12:3

Yes, they shall be cut in pieces!

I was in a store today that is owned and run by Palestinians. The store manager, an Islamist, was talking with a customer who was also an Islamist. They were talking about the Qur'an. I stood and watched them, thinking how wrong and lost they both are. They have spent their whole lives up to this point, believing a lie! And the lie they believe, will send them to hell! 

Yes, they shall be cut in pieces!

What Time Is It?
...And in that day...

"...that day..." is the day in which we are living! It is the "last days". It is the days preceding the return of Jesus Christ to claim His bride! We are living in the end-times. Listen to that still small whisper... That still small voice still speaks to the listening heart today as it did to Elijah : "...And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice...." *I Kings 19:11-12 KJV 

God's Chosen People

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins."Isaiah 40:1 KJV

"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!"Isaiah 40:9 KJV

God's Chosen People are His because He deemed it so. That will not change! No amount of hate, lying, murdering or slandering will change that fact. God set it so and He keeps it so by His Design and His Desire.

From The Bridegroom
"I am about unifying My House. My chosen of Israel and My Gentile number of the faithful. If you are scattering any of Mine away from Me or each other you are NOT with Me in this hour of restoration of My House. The war will escalate for a time, but not into 'the' full war. Time is not quite ready for that. Continue to pray and praise and release My anointing over the work I’m doing in the peoples of the earth; for indeed they are choosing whom they serve." April 14, 1996, 4:48 A.M. Word from the Holy Spirit

"For yea, saith God, you are wrong when you scatter My sheep and drive them away from Me. Many are doing this out of hate and others out of jealousness...and many just go along and don’t seek Me about it, or anything. Continue rebuking all the anti-semitism and praying for the church. There is so much deception within her." July 2, 1996, 6:20 A.M. Word from the Holy Spirit

Look At Current Events
A young Arab from a Muslim family who lost his ingrained hatred for Israel after becoming a Christian a few years ago, and who is now suffering at the hands of the Palestinian Authority's "police" for his faith, told me several days ago. "If it was not for fear of what would happen to them, more than 50 per cent of Muslims in Samaria would convert to Christianity." 

It is fear that holds many people in the grip of Islam. And fear, together with misplaced self-interest, leads the "Christian" world to defend Islam even as its adherents rampage across the globe, slitting throats in Algeria, bombing Americans in Arabia, and slaughtering Jews in Jerusalem, in the kibbutzim of October 7, 2023.

Christians should stand against Islam, driven by boldness, compassion and mercy--not fear. We have no need, in fact no right, to fear Islam. 

One unbelieving politician in this land has said that allah has more soldiers in his army than the God of Israel has in His.

Bottom Line
Bottom lines can sometimes be difficult to look at, but it is necessary for us to move in Truth, not in deception nor ignorance. The bottom line is that Jerusalem has become a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone to the world. The time, the "in that day", of which the Bible speaks, is here today! Take a stand...for Jesus!

Choice
The choice is yours...you know it's true. Only you can make a heart decision for you. No one else can choose for you. Your time is at hand to receive or reject the Savior. Jesus died for you. He rose for you. He ascended for you. He is the Son of God, born of a virgin, conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Whatever you've done, whatever you're doing, He still died for YOU. He loves you with a Love that transcends all else. It's bigger than your sin and bigger than you guilt. Come to Him now and ask Him to forgive you and come into your heart and cleanse you and fill you with His most Holy Spirit. The choice...is yours...

In Jesus' Name, be blessed.
Baruch Ha ba B'Shem Adonai!
Blessed Is He Who Comes In The Name Of The Lord
September 1997.

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