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I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before (God). Yet...you guide me with your counsel...Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you." (Psalm 73.22-25)
I have no tolerance left whatsoever for self-righteous, "know-it-all" Christians. This is because, the older that I get, the less I find to applaud in myself, while the gaps in my knowledge and understanding are daily growing more cavernous.
In a recent dream (13/6/10), I was compelled by striking and unusual images to "see" as never before the following:
1) These Last Days are going to be a time of increasingly intense persecution for the Church, all over the world. But during this Tribulation, Believers will not be diminished, but will rather grow up into Christ the Lord. (Ephesians 4.13)
"For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again. If these days had not been cut short no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened." (Matthew 24.21-22)
"Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring - those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus." (Revelation 12.17)
2) The sharpest point of this final, satanic harassment will be against God's Jewish People, who are going to be shaken and sifted "among all nations". (Amos 9.9)
"It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it." (Jeremiah 30.7. Also Daniel 12.1, Joel 2.1-2)
3) There are going to be God-ordained sanctuaries and places-of-refuge for Jews in flight. New Zealand is one country so appointed and designated.
"The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach." (Revelation 12.14)
In this essay, I will expand points two and three:
2) Suffering before glory.
The Jewish prophet, Art Katz, devoted his ministry in large measure to faithfully and dynamically warning his own beloved kinsmen, Israel, that "suffering before the glory is the great axis of Israel's prophetic tradition"! He received few plaudits from anyone in the Church (and much opprobrium from Believers in The Land), when he predicted that "according to the ponderous weight of Scripture, a last days' attrition is still future for the Jewish People and of such severity that only a remnant will survive."
This attrition, according to Art, "is likely the destruction of the hope that the existence of the State of Israel has been to many, only to see that State be reduced to ruin and desolation."
But the prophet does not anticipate a catastrophe which culminates in utter destruction...but rather complete and final salvation. He looks forward to a "remarkable, direct, supernatural intervention of God out of ultimate distress and disaster from which there could not have been any other than a divine deliverance." As Art's esteemed confrere and Bible scholar, Reginald Kelly, has similarly so succinctly articulated, "The Church must come to understand what Israel will learn in the crucible of Jacob's trouble; namely He will not spare to bring all the way down, just so that He might raise His afflicted all the way up to sit in heavenly places in Christ, to behold his beauty forever."
"In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem." (Isaiah 4.2-3)
"How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it. In that day, declares the Lord Almighty, I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them. Instead, they will serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them." (Jeremiah 30.7-9)
"For I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve...In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, and restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be." (Amos 9.9-12)
"I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgement upon you...I will take note of you as you pass under my rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge you of those who revolt and rebel against me." (Ezekiel 20.33-38)
"I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured...Half of the city will go into exile...Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations...On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives...The Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him...The Lord will be king over the whole earth." (Zechariah 14.1-9)
"And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob." (Romans 11.26)
Up until now, my humanity has quailed before and reeled back from any prospect of God's beloved Israel having to pass through anything even remotely approaching another Catastrophe! But the "ponderous weight" of the Scriptures, and my most recent dream, obliges me to embrace just such a purview!
"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?...Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Romans 10.14-17)
I now embrace this unbearable (unbelievable?) prospect, because it is true. I embrace it also out of the sense of prophetic responsibility...that all of God's People may know in advance and so prepare themselves by:
* Cleaving fast to God our Saviour, the Crucified One.
"The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Acts 2.20-21)
* Participating creatively in ultimate crisis.
"I give you this instruction, in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience." (1 Timothy 1.18-19)
According to the flip-side of Ezekiel 13.3-5, true prophets go up "to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord".
"So he said he would destroy them - had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them." (Psalm 106.23)
"Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city." (Jeremiah 5.1)
"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so that I would not have to destroy it..." (Ezekiel 22.30)
Could it be that during this approaching hour of Israel's extremity, the Church may at last discover true Christ-likeness. Not pontificating from worldly prominences, but upon bruised knees, "watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth." (Isaiah 62.6-7)
3) New Zealand a sanctuary.
It is now clear to me, that New Zealand has been marked-out by God to be a refuge and a sanctuary for His beloved Israel in flight, during her last Tribulation. I guess all that needs to be said in this regard is, "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Revelation 3.19-22)
"I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgement upon you." (Ezekiel 20.35)
"At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people. This is what the Lord says: The people who survive the sword will find favour in the desert; I will come to give rest to Israel." (Jeremiah 31.2)
"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." (Hosea 2.14)
Will the Church in New Zealand be able to hear anything above the din of our collective lust for novelty and success, as well as sensual pleasure and satisfaction...all cleverly disguised as zeal and piety? Will we hear his "still small voice", urging us to build extra accommodations in out-of-the-way places, and press the Government to alter its immigration quotas in favour of God's Jewish People? Will we start laying aside cash, ready to feed, house and clothe Rachel's refugee Children? Will we give up praying for ourselves first and all the time, and start to give our best and most fervent prayers "first for the Jew"? I'm not really all that confident that we will be able to get our spiritually-obese selves out of our own (and God's) way? But then again, "nothing is impossible with God". (Luke 1.37)
"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Romans 1.16)
"The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did (fed, invited in, clothed) for one of the least of these (Jewish) brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25.40)
