For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that . And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as young man marrieth a virgin, so thy sons marry thee: and as bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so thy God rejoice over thee. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast labored: But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken. (Isaiah 62:1-12, KJV)

So then, what is Zion? Zion is Jerusalem; Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken; no longer called forsaken and no longer desolate; a city that has watchmen on its walls; a city that will be a praise in the earth; a city that will set a standard for the people; Hephzibah; the city that issues righteousness and salvation. Zion is Jerusalem.

Another great source of information about Zion is Zechariah 8:

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. . . . Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. . . . Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that is you. (Zechariah 8:2-3, 7-8, 22-23, KJV)

Therefore, Zion, or Jerusalem, is the place to which the LORD of hosts will bring His people, after saving them from the east country and from the west country; there in Jerusalem they will be His people and He will be their God; many people and nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD of hosts and to pray to Him there, and in particular, ten men from the nations and representing various language groups will follow in concert with the Jews because of a desire to draw closer to God.

In Micah 4:1-4 we also see a wonderful description of the centrality of Zion, or Jerusalem, during the future Millennial Reign of Christ:

But in the last days it shall come to pass, that mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. (KJV)

For instance, in Exodus 12 and 13, the Israelites are commanded to keep the feast of unleavened bread for seven days out of every year, from the fourteenth day of the first month to the twenty-first day at even. During that seven-day period the Israelites were to eat unleavened bread (and to have no leavened bread in their houses), as a remembrance of how the LORD brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, where they had been in bondage for 430 years.

In Exodus 34:22-24, we also see a very important word from the LORD as to the blessing that would follow if only the sons of Israel would appear before the LORD God three times a year,on three important occasions: “And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.” (KJV) From this we can discern that the current spate of incursions on Israelite land are a result of the sons of Israel notappearing before the LORD God of Israel three times each year: many of the sons of Israel have fallen into unbelief, back into the worldly (Egyptian) ways, and therefore they have endured terrible land incursions by the sons of Ishmael.

One might say, Well, what does Israel being divided up due to unbelief on the part of the sons of Israel have to do with the creation? The condition of Israel has a lot to do with the creation, because the land of Israel is part of the creation, made by the God of Israel, and loved by Him. One might say, Why not stick to birdies and daffodils? Yes, I love those too, but the creation is large and complex.

It should be noted that in 1 Kings 9 we see that Solomon used to offer burnt offerings as well as peace offerings upon the altar that he built to the LORD; and at about that time, Solomon also built up a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, beside Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea; Solomon’s navy under Hiram fetched 420 talents of gold, many almug trees, and precious stones from Ophir; and the king’s navy under Tharshish plied the open sea and once in three years would bring gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks! Suffice it to say that Solomon appeared thrice before the LORD God of Israel in a year’s time, and he was blessed in a way that harkens back to Exodus 34:22-24 which promised that ifthe sons of Israel would go up to appear before the LORD three times in a year, then they would see the nations being cast out before them, they would see their own borders expanded, and they would experience peace because the LORD God would make it so that no one would covet their land. In the context of our present discussion about a year, Solomon made skillful use of the year by making sure that he appeared before the LORD three times in a year,and he was accordingly blessed.

(But of course, Solomon finally got carried away by his strange wives’ wicked ways, so that he even went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom and Molech, the gods of the Ammonites. As a consequence, God took 10 tribes out of the hand of Solomon and put them into the hand of Jeroboam instead. Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon’s death. Moreover, according to 1 Kings 11:41, the rest of Solomon’s acts, all that he did, and his wisdom are further detailed in the book of the acts of Solomon.)

A sobering note in our study of God’s created timeline that we call the “year” appears in Revelation 9:

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. (Revelation 9:15-21, KJV)

When God’s word speaks of an hour, a day, a month, and a year, that sounds like a very dramatic introduction to something very big, and sure enough that “something big” is a 200-million-man army. Whence will such an army come? We would seem to have a clue in Revelation 16:12, indeed, “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.” (KJV) What huge Asian powers would come jostling across the Euphrates to attack Israel in the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16)? Obviously, they would be populous countries that are converting economic success into a giant war machine. Are there any Asian countries today that are turning dragon-patterned-shirt revenues, pirated-CD revenues, tea cup revenues, tainted-toy revenues, MSG-laden-soy revenues, and chopsticks revenues into tanks and submarines and fighter planes and warships and troop transports and guns and ammo and propaganda campaigns? Are there any such countries in Asia? Are there any panda-propaganda dictatorships that hide behind smarmy smiles and sharpen their daggers daily and nightly? Are there any such countries in Asia? Could an army of smarmy smiles buoyed by panda bears and flying martial artists really kill one third of the world’s population? They couldn’t karate-chop all of their victims, so they must know something about modern weaponry too—and of course, they’ll have other Asian kings to back them up.

The good news for Israel is that the seventh angel will pour out his vial into the air and a great voice will come out of the temple of heaven, saying “It is done.” Then there will be voices; thunders; lightnings; an earthquake greater than any since men have been on the earth; the great city of Jerusalem will be divided into three parts; the cities of the nations will fall; and God will pour His wrath out on Babylon; the islands will flee and the mountains won’t be found; and a storm of giant hailstones will plague the earth (Revelation 16:17-21, KJV). And of course, the bad guys will lose–including the wicked kings of the east that have been lured across the dried-up Euphrates to a place called Armageddon, lured by the unclean spirits which emanate from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet:

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. . . . And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 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, 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: 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. . . . And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.  (Revelation 14: 1, 6-11, 14-20, KJV)

In the Ezekiel 38-39 war, Gog and Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, Togarmah, and many people swarm like a cloud on the land against the mountains of Israel; Gog will come from the north against Israel, and when it does so with its anti-semitic partners then the LORD God of Israel will cause a great earthquake in the land of Israel, such that the fishes of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the creeping things on the earth, and all the men on earth will shake at the LORD’s presence; and the mountains and the steep places will be thrown down and the walls will fall down; the LORD will cause every man’s sword to be against his brother; and the LORD will send punishment against Gog (and against the many who are with him)pestilence, blood, an overflowing rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone; in that way, the LORD will magnify Himself and be known in many nations; Gog and all his bands and the people that is with himwill be made to fall on the mountains of Israel and on the open fields so that the birds and beasts will devour them. Who are the many that will accompany Gog?

A profound principle about time, and about the concept of a year, is found in the book of James. Many people look at a time frame such as a year an opportunity to count out how much one will gain during that year—in other words, they will count their chickens before they’re hatched: “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be the morrow. For what is life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” (James 4:13-15, KJV) The Lord God of Israel is in charge; we’re not in charge of time.

However, God has given us some frameworks in the form of years, by which we can understand general seasons. In Daniel 9, we see that the angel Gabriel came to give the prophet Daniel skill and understanding because Daniel was greatly beloved:

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 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 , even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:24-27, KJV)

This timetable of 70 weeks of years (490 years)involves the rebuilding of Jerusalem; the anointing of the most Holy; Messiah the Prince; the cutting off of the Messiah, thereby making reconciliation for iniquity; the sealing up of the vision and prophecy; the covenant of the prince that shall come, concluded with many for one week; and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness.

Clearly, God has given us some frameworks involving years by which we can better understand history as well as the future. Of the prince that shall come, also known as the Antichrist, we further learn that he will speak against the God of gods, magnify himself above every god, have no regard for the God of his fathers, have no regard for the desire of women, and divide the land; he will stop the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation, kicking off a 1,290-day period of tribulation; and when the evil imposter known as the Antichrist comes to his end, no one will help him (Daniel 11 and 12). Judging from Daniel 12:1, could it be that the great angel Michael, who stands for God’s people, might have a hand in the demise of the beast known as Antichrist? During the day of the LORD, which will come as destruction from the Almighty, men’s hands will be faint and their hearts will melt, pangs and sorrows will take hold of men, and the LORD will lay the land desolate as He destroys the sinners out of the land (Isaiah 13). Thankfully, during the everlasting righteousness of Jesus’s Millennial Reign, the animals will get along once again—for instance, the wolf will live in harmony with the lamb (Isaiah 11).

So the king looked for another fair young maiden to be his new queen, and when he saw Esther, the daughter of Abihail (uncle of Mordecai), he fell in love with her and selected her to be his queen. After learning from Mordecai that two traitorous chamberlains (Bigthan and Teresh) were laying a plot to harm the king, Esther told the king, and the two traitorous chamberlains were hanged on a tree (a fact which was written down for posterity in the king’s chronicles). It came about that Haman became angry at Mordecai the Jew because Mordecai would not bow down to or otherwise reverence Haman. Consequently, the petty Haman complained that the Jews kept to a different law than the other peoples in the kingdom, even convincing the king to issue a decree on the 13^th day of the 1^st month, declaring that all Jews in the kingdom would be killed on one day, that is, on the 13^th day of the 12^th month, killed and destroyed and caused to perish, and their spoils taken away. So Haman had it in for Mordecai and the rest of the Jews.

Haman even scheduled for Mordecai to be hanged, but providentially, the night before Mordecai was to be hanged the king could not sleep and had his chronicles brought to him and read to him. It was then that the king discovered that Mordecai had loyally warned about the plot by Bigthan and Teresh to lay hands on the king (thereby sparing the king’s life), and furthermore that Mordecai had not yet been honored for his loyalty! The king had Haman administer the honors upon Mordecai the Jew, by bringing Mordecai royal apparel and a royal horse, and leading Mordecai (who was on horseback) through the streets, proclaiming “Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour.” (Esther 6:11b, KJV) So Mordecai was honored rather than put to death, and Esther, remembering Mordecai’s counsel that she might well be “come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14b, KJV), prepared a banquet and named Haman as the enemy that would sell her and her people to be destroyed, to be killed, and to perish. Thereupon, by the king’s order, Haman was hanged on the very gallows that he had prepared in hopes of hanging Mordecai, and the king took Haman’s ring and gave it to Mordecai. On the 23^rd day of the 3^rd month, the king’s scribes set out a new decree according to all that Mordecai had commanded and had written in the king’s name, so that the letters devised by Haman would be reversed and the Jews around the kingdom would, on the 13^th day of the 12^th month, kill and destroy and cause to perish those who otherwise would have assaulted them (including Jew-hating women and children). Sure enough, on the 13^th day of the 12^th month, the Jews around the kingdom slew their enemies using swords and slaughter and destruction, and in Shushan the palace the Jews killed 500 men, and on the very next day (the 14^th) the Jews in Shushan killed another 300 men, for a total of 800 men killed in Shushan over the two day period; throughout the kingdom’s provinces the Jews “stood for their lives” (Esther 9:16) and killed 75,000 of their enemies. (Interestingly, we are given the exact days for some of the signposts in this story: King Xerxes’ order to kill all the Jews in the kingdom occurred on the 13th day of the 1st month; King Xerxes’ reversal of that order, that instead all the enemies of the Jews would be killed by the Jews themselves, occurred on the 23rd day of the 3rd month, 70 days after the original order; and on the 13th day of the 12th month, or 11 months after the original order, the Jews went about killing their enemies throughout the kingdom. In effect, there was a crucible of 70 days during which time the very fate of the Jews hung in the balance, and there was an 11-month period during which time the anti-semitic plans of Haman came back onto his own head and then onto the heads of the other Jew-hating people.)

The lesson of this story of King Xerxes, Queen Esther, Mordecai the Jew, and Haman is captured nicely in Esther 9:24-26a: “Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur.” (KJV) Therefore, it was established by Mordecai that on the 14^th and 15^th days of the 12^th month (the month of Adar), the Jews should observe the days of Purim by being glad and feasting, and sending portions to one another.

In summary, through our study of King Xerxes, we have learned an amazing story about the way in which the LORD God of Israel will protect the Jews. Truly, this story of a wise Persian king and Mordecai and Esther highlights the reliability of that long-ago word in Genesis 12:2-3, where we read God’s promise to Abram, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (KJV) Likewise, in Zechariah 12:2-3, we can also see a similar warning against any who would harm the Jews: “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.” (KJV)

There is much anti-semitism in the world today, and we must oppose it. If we are to learn from a creation study about a man named Xerxes and his close friendships with his Jewish queen and his Jewish advisor, and from the ruination of the anti-semitic Haman, then we must be reminded of God’s love of Jerusalem and Judah and we would do well to consider Genesis 12-2-3 and Zechariah 12:2-3. Thank the LORD for Israel and for the many blessings bestowed on the world’s people through Israel!

In Proverbs 1, we see that destruction will come as a whirlwind to those that hate knowledge and refuse wisdom. Wisdom cries from the streets—but scorners delight in scorning her and fools hate her knowledge; men disregard her outstretched hand, ignore her counsel, and heed not her reproof. Of these foolish haters of knowledge, the proverb says, “Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.” (Proverbs 1:31, KJV) In other words, those that follow after false teachings and false gods reap the fruit (or consequences) of their actions.

For example, I once met a person who was steeped in the New Age traditions, and was so enthralled with the dragon symbol that there was a big picture of a dragon at the entrance to her property! New Age haters of knowledge are apparently unaware of Revelation 20:2-3, which clearly identifies Satan as the dragon, the old serpent, and the Devil, and notes that that most terrible dragon will be chained up in the bottomless pit for a thousand years (during the Millennial Reign of Christ). I have even seen a metal dragon sculpture alongside a major highway on the West Coast, and most everyone has seen dragon-this and dragon-that on the signs of Oriental restaurants around the country. In effect, the supine state of American culture (laying down and begging to be filled with foreign influences in the name of diversity) has opened the way for the dragon-mania that we see in cities and even small towns all around the country.

Regarding the unholy nature of tattoos, Leviticus 19:28 (KJV) notes that “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.” Regarding another chic and unholy fad, that of piercings, Isaiah 3 (verses 16-18a, 20b-22a, 24-25, KJV) gives the following warning:

Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon . . . and the earrings, the rings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel . . . . And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.

With the amount of piercings among young people today, it would seem wise for Americans to sit up (or stand up) and take notice of what Isaiah has said regarding such matters: if past is prologue, then America (with her numerous unholy women cavorting all about with all the bravery of their tinkling foot ornaments and audacious nose rings, eyebrow rings, earrings, lip rings, tongue rings, and other insidious rings) could potentially fall in a sort of repeat of Zion’s historical fall. When Zion’s mighty men were unable to control their own women, they fell in war. It seems that a country whose men can’t even rein in their own women, can’t stand tall against the enemy at the door (or against the enemy inside the door). Whether it be the adherents of the New Age dragon-mania, the tattoo fetish, or the piercing fad, a whirlwind of destruction awaits those that hate knowledge and refuse wisdom. Indeed, the unholy lust for Eastern mysticism, New Age deceptions, female domination, witchcraft, and all manner of pagan practices has caused many Americans to trade sweetness for stink, and beauty for burning.

So what’s the big deal about a bunch of earrings or nose-rings or false teachings or evil foreign symbols or tattoos? It’s a big deal because Jesus said in Matthew 11:13, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” (KJV) Isaiah was one of the Hebrew prophets that King Jesus was speaking about, and we have seen how stern is the warning against nose rings and earrings in Isaiah 3; we have seen the prohibition against tattoos in Leviticus 19; and the description of the evil dragon in Revelation 20; the list could go on and on, and would eventually lead one to meditating on the prohibitions listed in Deuteronomy 18, and the ramifications of that list for the world today. “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you,” the Bible says, “you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so.” (Deuteronomy 18:9-14, NASB)

This reminds me of a conversation I had with another American while we were both living in Taiwan years ago: Basically, I probably indicated that Buddhism is a false religion, and he said that it was so arrogant for one to come to their country and pronounce on what is false there—to which I replied that I didn’t come to Taiwan to give up my God. And such is my position today. Buddhism is a false religion, and the God of Israel is also God over all nations, including Taiwan. I don’t know what my American acquaintance did with my refusal to bow to the foreigners’ religion, but I met many devoted Christians in Taiwan and they are my brothers and sisters in Christ. One very aged, frail, and hunched-over man in Taipei, Taiwan had a long hand-scrawled prayer list that he used to offer fragrant prayers up to the LORD God of Israel; he was a small man, but a very big inspiration; his fervency for the LORD was something to behold, right there in the gritty and grimy streets of Taipei. I also had many Buddhist friends in Taiwan, and for the awakening of their minds we should pray. Still, some say, that’s a lot to derive from earrings and nose rings. Nevertheless, modesty is becoming rarer every day in a world of pop culture saturation, and Christian modesty is still lovely, and godly, no matter what the television executives may say.

Proverbs 10 picks up where Proverbs 1 left off—that is to say, as the whirlwind of destruction passes over the wicked, the wicked will be destroyed and they will be no more; by contrast, the righteous will be an everlasting foundation. Proverbs 10 goes on to explain that fools do mischief as though it were a sport, whereas men of understanding and righteousness, being guided by wisdom, will have their desires granted. (Proverbs 10:23-25) Interestingly, taking the long view, Proverbs 10:30 says that “The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.” (KJV) Indeed, the wicked will not walk the earth, but rather they’ll be punished in hell.

Also, in Jeremiah 23:19 (KJV), we read, “Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.” Nahum put it plainly when he wrote, “The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” (Nahum 1:3, KJV) Many atheists want to believe that storms are merely the inevitable randomness of molecular configurations, but the believer knows that God will have His hand in the weather. Tornadoes, and the wrath that they represent, should be sobering reminders that the God who made nature can move the air, the mountains, or the sea to suit His purposes.

In Zechariah 7 and 8 we have a classic case of a whirlwind of judgment coming against the disobedient, even in the context of a reiteration of God’s love for Jerusalem:

Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. . . . But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate. . . . Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. . . . Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. (Zechariah 7:12, 14; 8:2-5, 7-8, KJV)

Truly, stone-hearted unbelievers who refuse the admonitions of the law and the prophets will be scattered among foreign peoples by the action of God’s whirlwind of judgment. Jerusalem will be the city of truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be the holy mountain. God shall have His people, and He shall be their God.

Whirlwind Part of Last Days’ Worldwide Judgment?

Jeremiah 25:31-33 (KJV), we read an unsettling prophecy that involves a worldwide judgment: “A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations: he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” To my ear, this seems to mesh with Jesus’s warning about the last days, when He said, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:37, KJV) Let’s contrast the two eras:

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:4-5, KJV)

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. (2 Timothy 3:1-8, KJV)

The conditions described in Genesis 6 resulted in the worldwide Flood, which as far as men are concerned, only Noah and his family escaped on the ark that they built out of obedience to God. The conditions described in 2 Timothy 3, concerning the perilous last days, will result in another worldwide judgment. Could the judgment pronounced in Jeremiah 25, regarding a whirlwind that will be raised up on coastlines around the world, be part of God’s judgment in the last days? Of course, the last days’ judgment will also involve much fire, as we know from 2 Peter 3: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (2 Peter 3:3-7, KJV)

]]> http://creationwriter.net/2008/08/18/60/feed/ http://creationwriter.net/2008/06/26/valley/ http://creationwriter.net/2008/06/26/valley/#comments Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:54:47 +0000 Bill http://creationwriter.net/?p=56