Study-Grow-Know Ministries

This vision of Zechariah 2 speaks of the day when God in Christ will restore both – during the Millennial Kingdom. The nation of Israel, and Jerusalem itself. This vision speaks to fact that Jerusalem would have a large population, and… God Himself will physically protect Israel from all harm. Two great affirmations are in this third vision: Our Lord's return will be glorious (2:1-9) and Our Lord's future blessings will be glorious (2:10-13).

God will answer the prayers of His children in the way He sees fit; in the way that best fulfills His will. I'm not a prophet and I've never claimed to be. But simply basing things on God's Word and the examples of how He has done things in the past, helps me understand that this appears to be His chosen method of directing human history to accomplish His will without it being obvious.

This exploratory mission by the riders seems to be related to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and other cities in Judah. Their purpose was to examine the work of God's people to see what they were doing. Interestingly enough, many monarchs used messengers on steeds to travel throughout their kingdoms and report back. God does the same…not that He needs to do this because He already knows all things, but it is a sign of His direct involvement in the affairs of Israel and the world.

All of this should be comforting for the Christian because it is extremely easy to get caught up in the worry, the frustration, and the concerns of this world. We do so because we are not appreciating the fact that nothing happens here without God's permission/approval. But if we are worried, it means we are not trusting God and His purposes. If we are frustrated, it means we are unable to see God's hand in the situation. If we are bogged down by the cares of this world, our focus is not on God but on situations that might occur.

But let's not kid ourselves, please. Things will continue to worsen. This is the spirit of Babylon and though the original Tower of Babel was destroyed and the original city of Babylon (as well as the kingdom itself), was completely destroyed in ancient history, the ideology they were built on has never been destroyed. It has remained and Satan has continued in the spiritual realm to grow the spirit of Babylon throughout the world in order to gain control of the entire world in the final one world global order of Daniel 2.

Like many prophets of the Old Testament, the message Zechariah gave to the people of Israel/Judah was one of hope but required something from them. Like most today, people often do not want to repent because it means relying on something or Someone outside themselves for deliverance. Ever since the fall, humanity has become more and more inward, conceited and arrogant, following in the footsteps of Satan himself.

And so it goes from one empire to another. Following Nebuchadnezzar's death, eventually his grandson Belshazzar (Daniel 5), took the throne. He made a huge mistake, one that appeared to be either unforgiveable to God or God simply knew the king would not repent of his wickedness. This resulted in God's judgment using the Medes and Persians. They were upcoming while Babylon was on its way to being destroyed.

Recently, I had the opportunity to help a grandmother, who is a widow and raising two grandsons. Both grandsons have somewhat serious learning disabilities and the youngest one tends toward violence as well. The widow's husband died a number of years ago and the widow lives on a very small pension of just over $800/month. The (mobile) home they were living in is coming down around them (or should I say, was?).

To simply gain a better mental picture of what they envision, all we need to do is look at Revelation 6 and following where we see specific judgments being poured out starting with Seal 1 and going from there and the result of those judgments. By the time we arrive to the 5th seal of Revelation 6, there are obviously tons of people who have been martyred. This particular chapter is filled with destruction and death. I've always thought that God precipitated these judgments (and that could still be the case), but now I wonder if He simply doesn't choose to use situations created by humanity to use as His judgments?

Why does it appear that in most cases, God is simply silent and/or aloof? Why does it appear as though the evil people in the world control the rest of the world and they have full stomachs and never have a need they cannot fill? But for the rest of us, we often struggle to make ends meet, we are on the receiving end of globalist schemes and from every corner, we are pressed down and often forced to do things "their" way or pay the consequences. Why doesn't God step in sooner to right wrongs and correct evil and inaction?

If you listen to people today who are so deceived by every lie imaginable, it is easy to understand why they believe those lies based on Paul's words. Many of those people are almost giddy in their embrace of lies and they seem always on the edge of insanity. They can go off on anyone who holds a differing opinion, either verbally, physically or both.

I'm coming to the conclusion that God wants the same thing for all His children living today. We know we are facing difficult times and for many, this may be dire now. Daily I read from the prophecy "experts" one more thing that is creating undue hardships for many. It's not so much "prophecy," but simply news they're reporting. It's funny though how rarely do I read from many of these same people (not all!) that God has a plan for His people, that He is using these difficult times and circumstances to draw us closer to Him so that we can benefit from our relationship with Him and become an encourager to those who have not yet understood what God is doing. By the way, it's not merely words that encourage. It's actions.

Shortly after I became a Christian at the age of 13, I began to sense some type of call to ministry. It was weird because no one in my family served as a pastor or evangelist or even a missionary to a foreign country. I wasn't sure if my "calling" was simply a response to the truth of the Gospel and wanting to present it to others or if it was something that God was nudging me toward. Over the decades since that time, I've served as a youth minister, an associate pastor and even as a youth director/janitor in a church. It was interesting that in all those service opportunities, the only direction I received from any pastor I served under was to pursue my masters of divinity degree because if I was really called into the pastorate, I would need that. It made sense. I already had a bachelors in Bible degree.

In the meantime, might I suggest that you simply do what you can do for yourself, leaving all the rest to God. If you have extra cash to be able to stock up on perishables (including vitamins and other supplements since they usually have a two-to-four year shelf life), then do that. If you cannot do that, do you really believe God will ignore you, not hear you and not provide for you? He knows your circumstances better than you do.

Here Paul expressly speaks of a "man of sin/son of perdition" who would rise to power, oppose everything that is God and exalt himself instead (as Antiochus IV did). He will even do what Antiochus previously did by going into the Jewish Temple, sit inside the Holy of Holies (possibly on the Mercy Seat on top of reconstructed Ark of the Covenant), and declare to the world that he is God. Obviously, in order for this to occur, the Jewish Temple must be rebuilt during the coming Tribulation period. Antichrist will then confirm a covenant with Israel for seven years. Neither Antiochus in 167-168 BC or Roman Emperor Vespasian in AD 70 fulfilled all aspects of this prophecy. This will be fulfilled in the future.

I cannot think of a better use of fulfilled prophecy than in evangelism, can you? This is why we need to study and know it as best we can. This is why we should be mentally prepared for the time when prophecy is fulfilled. The world will see the reality of the attempted attack on Israel led by Gog (a title, not a name), and the results of it. They will not understand exactly what just occurred. Christians will be on hand to explain it but I believe they will have a very short time to do so because of the rise of the physical Antichrist, who will redirect everyone's attention to something else.

People today - both within and without the Church - are so opposed to anyone who does not agree with them that the vitriol directed toward opponents is constant and visceral. What would have been unheard of to utter to someone in public is now the new normal. There is no relief in that exercised passion because people refuse to find common ground. This applies to politics as well as prophecy.

Just as Hezekiah had no clue how God planned to thwart the Assyrians, he only believed (based on Isaiah's message from God), that God would somehow stand against Assyria. I'm sure God surpassed Hezekiah's thinking in a very powerful way that it was unmistakably God's work and left the king in absolute awe. Do you think he forgot that instance any time soon afterwards?

I have found that the more I focus on the corruption, evil and the terrible events occurring in the USA and the world, I tend to think that I have to solve those problems. This, as I mentioned, gets my brain going and I end up using a good amount of energy trying to "figure" things out, when in point of fact, I don't need to figure anything out at all. It's all God. He will lead me. He will help me make decisions. He will provide for me, but He really needs me to get to the end of myself in thinking that I need to actually come up with solutions to problems. I can't do a thing when it comes to the upcoming presidential election or WWIII. I have zero control. God does have control over it and His purposes will prevail, period.

The end of the Book of Daniel provides several questions and answers. They point to the fact that Daniel simply could not grasp all that was revealed to him. However, in our day, as we are much closer to the return of Jesus physically, things are making much more sense. As the prophetic Word unfolds, it will lead us to the seven-year Tribulation ended by the physical return of Jesus, who will then judge the nations and prepare for the Millennial Kingdom.