Trumpet Ministries, Revelation 12:14
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And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (Revelation 12:14)
The prophets teach clearly that the saints on earth during the reign of Antichrist will be persecuted. This will be true also of those who are Jewish by natural birth whether or not they are Christians, as we understand the Scriptures.
In Germany, during World War II, the Jews were persecuted viciously. Perhaps this gives us some idea of the greater trouble yet to come.
The Lord Jesus will reveal Himself to a remnant of His own people by race, the nation of Israel, during the early part of the tribulation period. This is our understanding, drawn from the example of the life and work of the patriarch, Joseph.
During the reign of Antichrist, the testimony of the saints, both Jewish and Gentile by race, will be beaten down. Christ will allow this setback of the Divine witness so the reign of Antichrist can bring forth the maturity of wickedness of the tares that Satan has planted in the earth.
That which hinders the full expression of Antichrist (II Thessalonians 2:7), which is the Holy Spirit-empowered testimony of the saints (Revelation 11:3), will be removed as an obstacle to the rise to prominence of the man of sin. The latter-rain testimony will be "killed," as symbolized by the death of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:7).
And he [Antichrist] shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out [wear down] the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. (Daniel 7:25)
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was on the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Daniel 12:7)
How do we who are the Lord’s saints (holy people) keep ourselves from being worn out?—from being beaten down?—from having our strength scattered, shattered, crushed?
We turn to the Lord, our Fortress. We learn to rest in Him. We pray, resting our faith in the written Word. We wait on the Lord, committing our way to Him. We stand firm in the power of the Lord’s strength in the evil day.
Jesus instructed us carefully in Matthew 24:20 and Luke 21:36 to pray diligently in the hour of tribulation. If we will do that we will be able to escape unharmed from many of the trials and pressures of the last days.
But if we will not pray, not wait diligently before the Lord, not find our strength and wisdom in the Book of Psalms (which was written for the time of battle) and in the other Scriptures, then we will fall in the hour of testing.
What takes place when we wait on the Lord?
Listen to the promises the Lord has given to us for our help in the hour of trouble:
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31)
In the coming day of trouble the elect who will turn to the Lord’s promises, committing their safety and well-being to Him, will be given the two wings of a great, giant eagle, according to the promise of Isaiah (quoted above).
Here is the abundance of Divine strength that will support each saint in that Day. During the persecution by Antichrist the Christian people who follow the Lord, trusting in His Spirit to guide them, will be brought into the prepared place of protection and nourishment.
The wings of the eagle that will bear up God’s elect in the day of Antichrist speak of the power of the Lord God Almighty.
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exodus 19:4)
David desired the peaceful wings of a dove:
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. (Psalms 55:6,7)
The day of Antichrist is part of the Divine preparation for battle. Therefore, the elect will not be given the wings of a dove but the two wings of a strong eagle so they can soar far above the conflict in exultant triumph and fierce independence.
That she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (Revelation 12:14)
The Church will be forced by persecution into "her place." There is an area in the wilderness that is her place. The Lord carefully prepares in advance, sometimes thousands or more years in advance, every move He makes. God is a Planner. Nothing surprises God. He plans precisely every move He makes.
No matter what action Antichrist takes, God long in advance has prepared a place of safety and provision for each saint who refuses to serve Antichrist.
The Christians who turn to Antichrist for safety and provision will face severe consequences.
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: (Revelation 14:9,10)
This means if any person should turn away from the Lord and seek the protection offered by Antichrist, the world spirit, he or she will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur. This indeed is a terrible, fearful consequence of choosing to live in the world rather than to walk stedfastly in the Holy Spirit of God.
The individuals who turn to the Lord in the hour of tribulation will receive a glorious reward.
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. (Revelation 7:14,15)
There will be great reward for those who turn to the Lord during the tribulation period. The saints who stand before the throne of God and before the Lamb have refused to accept the protection and provisions offered to the believers and to the peoples of the earth by the man of sin.
The punishments are exceedingly severe and the rewards are exceedingly glorious, depending on whether we choose to look to the world or to Jesus during the hour of temptation that will test all those who live on the earth.
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark on their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4) The worship of the beast and his image, and the mark in the right hand or in the forehead, is speaking of the world system and its abominable ruler—Antichrist.
Today we see the universities and lower schools teaching that people should look to human wisdom and strength to solve all problems, and also that the supreme goal in life is to accumulate material wealth. These two marks of Antichrist—the mind that is independent of the Holy Spirit and the gathering of material wealth—already are infiltrating the Christian churches.
Multitudes of Christian people today are attending schools, or are sending their children to schools, where the stamp of the world spirit is being burned into their right hand (their actions) and their mind, so to speak. They learn to seek economic prosperity first, using their own intelligence and industry. God and the holy Scriptures are considered to be relatively useless when it comes to the important aspects of human life.
The believers may be waiting for some kind of monster to come up out of the sea. The fact is, Antichrist is here now. The deception is here now. We cannot see it because it fills our environment and seems natural to us. We are spiritually asleep.
God in His goodness is warning us today to remove ourselves and our children from the world system of thinking and acting. Many believers are coming out of the world system and are turning to prayer and to the Scriptures. They are assembling regularly with like-minded, fervent saints. They are building schools for their own children.
Others who also regard themselves as Christians, but who in actuality are part of the world system, are convinced that Antichrist is some type of monster, or computer, that will originate somewhere in Europe or in the Middle East. The truth is, they already are in the grip of Antichrist. They and their children already are serving the god of money, being content to live comfortably and prosperously in this world without giving serious attention to the demands of discipleship and service in the Body of Christ.
Unless they repent and turn to the Lord they will suffer the consequences described in the Book of Revelation.
He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches today.
No human being, whether it be Pharaoh, or the chief priests of Jesus’ day, or Judas Iscariot, or Pontius Pilate, has desired to be deceived. Every person trusts and hopes what he or she is doing will provide some type of pleasant—perhaps joyous—existence in the present and the future.
No person knowingly would behave in such a manner as to bring on himself or herself eternal separation from the Father in a lake of tormenting fire.
Judas Iscariot was an ordinary human being, just like you and me. But he was deceived and destroyed by the love of money, as were Ananias and Sapphira. Many of God’s people today are in deception because of the love of money.
The reader should not imagine he or she is beyond the possibility of being deceived. If we knew when we were entering deception it would not be deception. Any individual who is not carrying his or her cross and following the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully is capable of being deceived.
You and I are to flee from the spirit of money, from the deceitful riches of Antichrist that already are seducing the Christian people.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (I Timothy 6:9,10)
Antichrist is here now. His spirit is persuading the peoples of the earth, including the Christians in some instances, that men and women can solve their problems without the Lord, and that the chief purpose of life is to acquire material wealth and ease.
It remains for the Antichrist spirit to be personified in one human being. His message will be identical to what is being preached today in the upper and lower schools throughout the world.
Antichrist is here now, and many Christian people are cleaving to him because of his amazing ability to deceive and because of their own love of the world and their unwillingness to carry their cross behind the Lord Jesus.
The only insurance against deception is for the saint to turn to God, pray, and then take up his cross and follow Jesus—just as the Scripture directs. The Gospel of Christ has not changed at all. The Christian Church and the world spirit are mortal enemies.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (I John 2:15)
Do you love this present world and the things of it?
Every saint has a place of protection and provision in the Lord. That place of perfect safety in the Rock of Ages was prepared for the individual saint before the world was created. God knew in advance everything He was going to do, before He created the world.
Wouldn’t it be a tragedy if we missed the special place of protection that has our name on it, by turning away from the Lord Jesus Christ and putting our trust in the world system?
Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. (Isaiah 26:20)
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. (Isaiah 4:6)
The individual who is trapped in the world system of commerce, of material gain and comforts, of ease in this life, is unable to flee in the hour of the Lord’s judgment. He is as Lot and his family. When the Spirit of God warns him to flee he cannot tear himself away from his goods.
Lot would have been destroyed if it had not been for the prayers of Abraham.
Jesus advised us to remember Lot’s wife because we must be ready to obey the Spirit of God instantly the moment Jesus appears from Heaven.
In the days to come the Lord’s saints will be led specifically and clearly to places of safety and provision—and so throughout the tribulation period. There will be a "Goshen" for every saint and his family, a place of perfect safety and provision whether or not "Egypt" is being spared at the time.
We are speaking now of the remnant as a whole. As we have noted previously, some of the saints will be given the privilege of sealing their testimony with their blood. Martyrdom is a privilege in the sight of God and the Lamb. It places the saint in the ranks of those blessed heroes of faith who have given their lives for Christ and the Kingdom of God.
The Lord God of Heaven is bound by His written Word to provide all our needs through His riches in glory by Christ. Also, He has stated that if we will delight ourselves in the Lord He will give us the desires of our heart (Philippians 4:19; Psalms 37:4).
The promises of God are independent of the abundance or lack of necessities in the world about us. God’s promises depend for their fulfillment on God’s abilities and resources.
If we live as good soldiers of Christ, ready and willing to endure hardships for the Kingdom of God’s sake, the Lord will fulfill His Word toward us faithfully and consistently.
If we forfeit the Kingdom provisions by breaking our part of the agreement, trusting instead in the visible protection and provisions of the Antichrist world system, the Lord no longer is obligated to provide our needs and our desires. Rather, we will suffer frightful punishment because of our worship of the devil.
Blessed is the person who puts his or her trust in the Lord. But the individual who turns from the Lord and places his or her trust in the arm of flesh will not be blessed by the Lord. Human resources will fail the individual in the time of need.
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