Tag Archives: prophecy

Answers from Amos

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I’ve been studying Elohim’s word this morning, and I was led to open up the little Book of Amos. I read all nine chapters. Somehow, I sensed that the answer to the question I asked in the previous post might be found therein. That question was how do we get to the next stage in our spiritual walk?

I can’t say that I have the full answer, but some spiritual insights were garnered.

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The bottom line is that we need a fresh prophetic vision — a divine revelation of where YHVH wants us to go next.

It goes back to Proverbs 29:18, which says that without prophetic vision, YHVH’s people perish or become unloosened spiritually. Additionally, all prophetic vision should be on a solid Torah foundation — something that doesn’t exist among the so-called prophets in the contemporary mainstream church  system.

Amos explains the role of the prophet and how people really don’t want to hear YHVH speak to them through his servants, the prophets, much less obey the word of Elohim they’re proclaiming. So why then should YHVH send them his prophets if his people refuse to hear and to obey?

Though I’m not a prophet, as a servant of the Most High, I should be speaking prophetically as inspired by the Holy Spirit. This applies to you too. When a Bible teacher or preacher gets up in front of others to speak, he should do so prophetically; that is, in an inspired way that brings forth divine revelation from the word of Elohim. The problem is that most people start to shut the preacher off when he urges them to repent of sin. As a preacher, I can tell you this is the case. Almost every time I preach a message of repentance, someone gets offended and blames me for their angst. Instead of looking at themselves in the mirror and conforming their lives to the word of Elohim, they make excuses why it doesn’t apply to them, and then they shoot the messenger. Frankly, it get’s tiring after a while!

Okay, enough of this. Let’s see what Amos had to say. Here are some insights from this prophet I gathered this morning.

Amos 8:11, A famine…of hearing. Hearing is the Hebrew word shema, which has the compound meaning of both hearing and doing. In our modern world, the word of Elohim is more proliferated than ever before, especially Continue reading →

 

The End Times Prophetic Subtext of Matthew Chapters 16 to 25

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The Surrounding Context of the Matthew 24–25 Olivet Prophecy

The Bible is full of spiritual blueprints; Yeshua’s prophecy in Matthew 24 and 25, commonly called the Olivet Prophecy is an example of another one..

Having a working knowledge of all these “blueprints” will help us to discover who we are as a people in the eyes of YHVH, where we have come from, where we are presently, and where we are going—that is, what the future holds for us, and what our spiritual destiny or divine inheritance is. Only then will we understand the end-time prophetic events leading up to the second coming of Yeshua, and we will learn what our role will be to play in them.

To understand Matthew 24 and 25, it is important first to note the chronological positioning of this prophecy in the context of the passages before and after this pivotal chapter. The chapters that precede Matthew 24 prophetically speak of precursory events leading up to the second coming of Yeshua, while those that follow Matthew 24 prophetically delineate events that occur after his return.

Matthew 24 sits like a diamond in the midst of a brilliant gold setting. It speaks of the order of end time events pertaining to the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah, our beloved King, Redeemer and Savior. Listed below is a chronology of events as Matthew lays them out, more or less, in the order in which they will occur prophetically. Many of these passages will be elucidated upon later in this book. It is important that we present the Continue reading →

 

Keys to Understanding Bible Prophecy

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Below are a few keys that can help one to have a better understanding of Bible prophecy. Since we are likely living in the end times meaning that Yeshua the Messiah’s return is imminent, and many prophecies relating to the end times are possibly about to be fulfilled, it behooves us to keep the following points in mind.

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When trying to understand future Bible prophecy, realize that it’s like looking through a dark glass. In most cases, we’ll only see a hazy picture. As we get closer to the events spoken about in given prophecy, the picture will become clearer.

In most cases, we won’t fully understand prophecy until it has been fulfilled. Even then, many people still won’t understand it. This was the case with Yeshua’s first coming. The apostles failed to understand fully the purpose of his mission until after he had ascended to heaven. Even then, prior to A.D. 70, they thought his return was imminent. It wasn’t until after A.D. 70 that they realized that his return would occur much later in the future.

To have even a hazy understanding of Bible prophecy, one must have a working knowledge of the following things: Continue reading →

 

Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh & Benjamin in End Times Prophecy

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Here are a few of my thoughts on who Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin represent in end times Bible prophecy.

In studying the Jewish sages of old, I am amazed at how prescient they were about end time events. They gained this understanding often as they studied the lives of notable biblical characters.The sages had the strong sense that history would repeat itself— often again and again for the people of Elohim. This they observed in the cyclical patterns of Israel’s own history where YHVH gave them the truth, they remained faithful to it for a while, and turned from it, were punished and then returned to Elohim only to have the cycle repeat itself again and again.

As I have studied their method of predicting the future based on past events in Israel’s history, this has led me to some of my own speculations, which I present to you below.

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There is much more to learn on this subject and I try to remain teachable.

Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh Antetypical of Christianity

Joseph’s wife was the daughter of an Egyptian priest. Jospeh married into the religious system of Egypt. He is a picture of Christian church, which has married itself to Babylon by syncretizing itself with certain pagan traditions and belief systems. Joseph is a picture of the end time lukewarm church. Ephraim and Manasseh were products of the union of Joseph (an Israelite) and Potifera (an Egyptian). Though they were Israelite, they were genetically a mixture of both Israelite and Egyptian blood. In fact, they resembled Egypt so much that Jacob, when blessing them, didn’t even recognize who they were. They were strangers to him. Though they were spiritual mulattos, their spiritual destiny was to identify wholly with their Israelite heritage, which would necessitate their renunciation of their Egyptian ties. In the end times, YHVH is calling Christians to renounce the pagan ties they Continue reading →

 

Matthew 24 and Revelation Synced

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Integrating the End-Times Scenarios of the Olivet Prophecy and the Book of Revelation

The General Tribulation Period

Certain aspects of the prophetic scenario that Yeshua lays out in Matthew 24 were fulfilled in A.D. 70 with Jerusalem’s destruction. Discussing the events around A.D. 70 is beyond the scope of this work, so I’ll pass over this subject and focus on those prophecies that are clearly eschatological (i.e., those that deal with end-times events) in nature.

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The time period of the Olivet Prophecy started in the first century A.D. and continues until the second coming.

Matthew 24:4–8 describes conditions that existed on earth at A.D. 70, and that would continue and intensify up until the second coming. These include:

  • Religious deception — the spirit of Antimessiah. (John talks about this spirit in his first epistle, and says that it was active in his day, 1 John 2:18–19.)
  • Wars and rumors of wars.
  • Famines.
  • Pestilence.

These four conditions answer the disciples’ question about what would be the signs of the end times (Matt 24:3), and they also correlate one-to-one with the first four seals (commonly known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse) of Revelation 6.

Religious deception corresponds to the first horse (Rev 6:2).

Wars and rumors of wars corresponds to the second horse (Rev 6:3).

Famines corresponds to the third horse (Rev 6:5).

Pestilence corresponds to the fourth horse (Rev 6:7).

Next in Matthew 24 comes the martyrdom of the saints — something that has been happening since the death of Stephen in the Book of Acts to this present day (Matt 24:9–14). This martyrdom corresponds with the fifth seal of Revelation 6:9–11.

There are two groups of martyred saints: those who are killed before the end of the tribulation period and just before the beginning of the great tribulation, and those who are martyred afterwards. This second martyrdom completes the martyrdom of saints that has been going on over the ages (Rev 6:11lp).

The great end-times martyrdom of saints corresponds with the worldwide preaching of the gospel (Matt 24:14). This prophecy of Yeshua about the gospel being preached to all the world has only been fulfilled recently. Continue reading →

 

Book of Joel Overview & End Times Prophecy

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Analysis of the Book of Joel
Joel 1:1–20 chronicles the physical and spiritual desolation that will exist in the land of Israel (1:6, 10) just prior to the day of YHVH, the destruction of the Almighty (1:15). Israel’s pitiable condition is due to external forces (symbolized by worms, caterpillars and the lion, 1:4, 6, 7) coming against Israel laying her land waste. The prophet urges YHVH’s people to humble themselves and to call a sacred assembly fast (a probable prophetic reference to the forty days of repentance (Heb. teshuvah) leading up to the fall appointed time of the Day of Atonement (Heb. Yom Kippur).
Joel 2:1 opens by announcing the blowing of the shofar in Zion, and the sounding of the alarm (ruwa, Strong’s H7321, meaning “to shout, raise a sound, to cry out, give a blast, to shout a war-cry or alarm for battle, to sound a signal for war”) in Jerusalem. This is a clear reference to the fall festival of Yom Teruah, the Day of the Blowing of Shofars, or Day of the Shouting This is announced as a day when YHVH’s people are to tremble and to prepare for the coming of the day of YHVH, which is near.
The prophet next goes on to describe that day of YHVH as one of darkness (or obscurity) and gloominess (calamity or wickedness), heavy or thick dark cloudiness (2:1). On that day, a great army will swarm over the land with a devouring fire going before them while Continue reading →

 

Islam: YHVH’s Judgment to Bring Jews & Christians Back to Him

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This is a hard message. Few will be able to receive it. But the watchman must give it anyway (Ezekiel 33:1–11).

The Ancestry of Modern Arabs

In Genesis 32, Esau and his army stood in the way preventing Jacob and his descendants from returning to their homeland — the land YHVH had promised to them. This historical event is prophetic of what will happen in the end times as the Jews and the rest of the Israelites endeavor to receive their promised inheritance and the kingdom of Elohim.

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Not only that, YHVH used Esau to test Jacob’s who had grown overly self-confident due to his business acumen and his ability to produce a large family clan. In the ancient world, he had reached the pinnacle of wealth and power. However, what mattered to YHVH more than these things was the character of a man. Would Jacob have faith in his Creator, or would he trust in his own abilities to outwit his adversaries and come out on top as he had done twice previously with his brother Esau and Laban, his uncle? Jacob’s confrontation with his brother at the threshold of the land of Israel and his wrestling with the Messenger from heaven were the two tests that he had to pass. The Bible calls this Jabob’s Trouble and prophesies that something similar will occur in the end times to Jacob’s descendants (Jer 30:7).

According to Genesis 32, Jacob divided his wives and children into two camps (Gen 32:1, 7). This was prophetic of what would eventually occur to the nation of Israel after the death of King Solomon. The one nation of Israel became two houses or kingdoms — the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Israel. The descendants of these two kingdoms are presently — loosely speaking — the Jews and the Christians. But who are the descendants of Esau historically and, more importantly, today. Why is it important to know?

Many, if not most of the modern Moslems (especially the Arabs) trace their lineage back if not biologically then spiritually to Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar. Islam in its religious book, the Koran, claims that it was Abraham and Ishmael who founded the religion of Islam and built the Kaaba, which is the small building containing a stone that supposedly fell from heaven. This shrine is located in the midst of the great mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Of Ishmael and his descendents, the Bible prophesies in Genesis 16:11–12,

The Messenger of YHVH said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because YHVH has given heed to your affliction. And he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his brothers.”

The Koran has further twisted the biblical account to declare that the biblical patriarchs were Muslims and that Abraham gave the birthright blessing to Ishamael instead Isaac. Both Israelites and Arabs, therefore, believe that they have a right to the Promised Land of Canaan, and, hence, thus forming the basis for the modern Arab-Israeli conflict. Continue reading →