The Sovereignty of God #7
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The United States of American was founded and sustained by the grace of a sovereign God. It didn’t just happen. It was founded under difficult circumstances and great sacrifice against a formidable and powerful Nation, Great Britain as explained in Week #4 (01/24-01/31).
America’s roots go deep, squarely anchored in the Bible and biblical values. How would our founders react to today’s America? The world as we know it has changed for several reasons, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 election. What future lies ahead for the United States? Will God bless or punish America? I believe as 2021 unfolds, it will answer that very question.
The Constitutional Convention, met on May 25 through September 17, 1787 in the old Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia. I can only wonder what their reaction would be to today’s Congress. Each founding member willingly made sacrifices and agreed to necessary compromises both in drafting and approving the U.S. Constitution. It is as right for America today as it was then.
Today’s Congress is openly split as readily shown over the last four years and especially during the recent impeachment effort and trial of former president Donald J. Trump. Rep. Bennie Thompson D-Miss. (photo), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, demonstrated his unabated hatred for President Trump by filing suit, alleging that Trump incited the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, without proof and even after Trump's acquittal at the Senate trial. Can a nation and its congressional leadership, being so divided and filled with such vitriol and hatred, move forward as one indivisible nation? It’s obvious that America is in need of some serious prayer to a sovereign God. He can let us slide down the slippery slope or redeem us. I think the answer rests in the Church at large, and individual Christians across this land.
Will America continue to serve as a bastion of freedom, as it did in two world wars and afterwards? Only as the next four years unfold will we know. The American people have always had the will, the determination and perseverance to protect and defend liberty as One Nation Under God. But there is also a spiritual aspect to today's battle against the powers in this dark world, as Paul tells us in Ephesians.
Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (NIV)
A dysfunctional congress raises the question, is the stage being set for the Antichrist’s rise to power? What are the signs? The Bible tells us he’s coming, we just don’t know when. No one knows for sure how everything will unfold in a one-party federal government (President, Senate and House of Representatives) over the next four years; some of which is starting to look rather bleak. Maybe it’s a wakeup call and Americans will realize we need to turn back to God as a people and as a nation. Since Jesus taught us to pray, we can be certain God hears prayer (Luke 11:2). I would hope that every Christian in America is praying for our country and that God hears our collective prayers enough to bring blessings rather than wrath.
A sign of the End Times is the world’s animosity toward Israel, readily apparent in the United Nations, even that there is an Israel. The UN General Assembly adopted 17 resolutions against Israel in 2020 compared with six resolutions for the rest of the world, more than North Korea or Communist China’s treatment of minorities and actions against Hong Kong. We can be certain that Satan is active behind the scene with an intense hatred and desire to destroy Israel. I think this alone adds to the relevance of modern Israel in prophecy. He is also out to destroy the Church, even from within with false gospels--the ultimate lie.
Satan’s hatred of Israel is manifest in many different ways. President Biden has already advocated a two-party state split between Israel and Palestine. Sounds good; except that the Palestinians have stated many times for many years, that the only solution is the destruction of Israel and elimination of all Jews from the land, which certainly is not a plan for peace. Something like Hitler’s final solution.
Back to my basic question from last week: “Are we there yet?” What do the End Times encompass? Some believe it includes the entire Church-age going back to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and Pentecost, and that we are in it now. Some believe it began at the rebirth of Israel in 1948 as the fulfillment of Bible prophecy (shown on this chart). There have been many efforts to portray the End Times in charts. Those holding a premillennial view reassure us that we will be raptured before the Antichrist’s reign and seven-year Tribulation, which concludes with the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. The Tribulation is immediately followed by the 1,000-year Millennium marking the close of world history, concluding with God’s creation of a New Heaven and New Earth.
The End Times is not just in the Book of Revelation and Matthew 24. It encompasses a series of prophecies that run through the Old and New Testaments, which is a study in and of itself, but not right now. What the chart shows is that there’s a lot involved. Every aspect of history is under God’s sovereignty, carefully laid out and decreed by a holy and righteous God. This chart, one of many, shows the Church age beginning after the crucifixion of Christ at Pentecost and continuing to the rapture. The church is removed via the rapture, just prior to the Tribulation and returns with Jesus at His second coming to reign with Him during the 1,000-year Millennium.
Daniel 9:27 prophesied the Tribulation, and the Antichrist desecrating the third Jerusalem temple that is yet-to-be-built, which we had looked at in an earlier study. The one week in Daniel 9:27 equals 7 years. There are efforts currently underway in Israel for rebuilding of the third temple. The End Times is totally irrelevant to the secular world; not only irrelevant, but strictly in the category of fiction. Nobody expected a rebirth of Israel in 1948, not even the Church, which was an aftermath of the Holocaust to destroy Europe’s Jews. A rebirth that was only possible by God’s sovereign decree.
The chart is pretty self-explanatory. Just two points: 62 of Daniel’s 70 weeks lead up to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The 70th week concludes with the Tribulation, which includes the building of third temple in Jerusalem. Will we be here or will we be raptured? I vote for raptured.
Picture depicts the yet-to-be-built 3rd Jerusalem temple. The End Times is something the Church can’t quite agree on, especially in regard to the Rapture and modern Israel’s relevance. When the 3rd temple is being built, the Antichrist will already be on the scene and supporting its construction. For those who believe in a Pre-Trib Rapture, they/we won’t be here when that temple is built. The first was build by King Solomon in the 10th century BC and destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. The second by King Herod in 516 BC, in existence during Jesus’ time, and destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Picture depicts a rendition of the second temple that existed in Jesus’ day, believed to be on the site of the original temple, now occupied by two mosques. I think we can be certain, a Jewish temple would never stand unmolested in a Muslim controlled Jerusalem. Another piece of Bible prophecy: the rebirth of Israel in 1948 and on June 27, 1967 the Israeli Knesset extended Israel’s legal and administrative jurisdiction to all of Jerusalem, and expanded the city’s municipal borders (Amos 9:14-15; Ezekiel 36-37)
This is what the temple mount looks like today, with two mosques, which most believe was the site of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. It's where some now believe a Roman fortress stood. The next slide tells that very different story.
Another view that is gaining support: This slide shows the temple site in the City of David, as noted on the slide, and the Roman Antonia Fortress on what is currently believed to be the temple mount as explained in the attached video--link posted below. The Coming Temple—which is a full documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKTO8YYs29c
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All of which takes us to Armageddon, the final battle on earth of man-revolting against God, following Satan's released from the abyss (Rev. 20:7-8), where we will pick up next week.
Pastor Adrian Rogers’ 37-minute sermon: The signs of the times and the beginning of the End. Does it sound familiar? Keep one thing in mind, a pandemic is a plague.
https://youtu.be/cZVGyNA9QSs
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Pray for our nation and people; our church, pastor and his family; and our own families and congregation.
End of the Sovereignty of God #7
