A New Beginning
By Pastor F. M. Riley
“Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
both low and high, rich and poor, together.
My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of My heart shall be of understanding.
I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open My dark [chidah…hidden] saying upon the harp.”
Psalm 49:1-4.“Give ear , O My people, to My law; incline your ears to the Words of My mouth.
I will open My mouth in a parable: I will utter dark [chidah…hidden] sayings of old:”
Psalm 78:1-2Introduction
The Word of the Lord contains hidden truths that are only revealed at the time the Lord wants them revealed. They are often hidden right in plain sight in the Scriptures that men read every day. Yet the hidden truth in those Scriptures is unseen by men until the Lord’s appointed time for that particular truth to be revealed. The above two Scripture passages plainly point out this truth. Another passage that verifies this truth is found in Daniel 12:4. I suggest that our readers study each of these passages carefully.
Folks, it is God’s inspired Word that we are dealing with. Today it is commonly accepted that any man with reasonable intelligence can “read the Bible” and understand it. Even though it is “commonly accepted,” such an idea is just not so. Spiritual truth is spiritually discerned, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. A person can read the Bible all their life, but they will never understand the spiritual truths set forth in it until they receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior through “…repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,” Acts 20:21.
In this study I am going to share with God’s people [those truly saved] one of those previously hidden truths that the Lord in the Scripture texts above said He was going to reveal to His people. My prayer is that this study will bring encouragement and joy to God’s people today. Read on…..Bible Numbers
God’s inspired Word is filled with various numbers. The careful Bible student will find that the numbers used in God’s Word are always associated with a particular theme or doctrine. I began studying Bible numbers when I first began preaching 53 years ago, and have never stopped studying them. Therefore I am well acquainted with the meanings of various numbers used in God’s Word. I know after all these years of personal Bible study that the Lord still uses these same Bible numbers in dealing with mankind. I could point out hundreds of examples of this truth from daily life. But in this study I want to emphasize only two numbers which repeatedly occur in God’s Word to demonstrate that the Lord is still using those same Bible numbers [and others] as His great plan of the ages is being worked out among men. Let’s get started…..
Number SevenSeven (7) is the Bible number that is always associated with the doctrine of completeness or fulfillment throughout the Scriptures. It means, “to complete; bring to an end; bring to closure; to close; to fill up; to fulfill; to bring to fulfillment.”
Number Eight
Eight (8) is the Bible number that follows seven and throughout the Bible it is associated with the doctrine of new things. It means, “to begin anew; a new day; a new time; a new birth; a new start; a new beginning.”
Now emphasizing these two numbers, by the Grace of God I want to share with our readers a wonderful…..
Previously Hidden Truth
After some 1827 years of dispersion among the Gentile nations of the earth, the Lord began to move on behalf of the Jewish people in 1897. This was when Theodor Herzl convened the 1st Jewish Congress at Basel, Switzerland. The purpose of that meeting was specifically to launch an organized effort to find a national homeland for the long dispersed Jewish people. Out of that meeting came the Zionist Organization, which in 1898 assumed the leadership role in searching for a Jewish homeland. A new beginning!
Ten years later in 1907 the Great White Fleet of the United States of America sailed into the harbor at Tokyo, Japan and forced the Japanese Emperor to open up his country to world commerce and modernization. Up until that time Japan was a closed country. The Japanese people were living in the same primitive way they had lived for hundreds of years. The Japanese Emperor wanted to protect his people from the outside world where the Industrial Revolution was taking place and modern technology was advancing. But the Lord knew that Japan had a role to play in end-time events. After the Great White Fleet of the U.S. sailed to Japan and literally threatened to open up Japanese markets by an invasion if necessary, the Japanese Emperor opened up his country to world trade in 1908. A new beginning!
By 1917 the 1st World War was winding down. On December 9, 1917 Jerusalem was freed from Turkish control by the combined military forces of Great Britain and the United States under the command of the English General, Lord Allenby. Read Psalm 17 and Isaiah 31:4-5. This paved the way for the Jews to begin returning to the Holy Land. In the next few months all fighting ceased and an Armistice was signed on November 11,
1918 ushering in a new era [for a short time] of world peace. A new beginning!In 1927 Europe was already in the midst of a collapsing economy and turmoil was everywhere. A group of disgruntled young radicals in Germany began seeking the cause of such economic chaos. They blamed all of Europe’s woes on the Jews in Europe, and especially those Jews in Germany. In 1928 the Nazi Party was organized with the express aim of taking over the German government and ridding Germany of the Jews. One of the charter members of the Nazi Party was…guess who? A new beginning!
In 1937 Adolph Hitler was busy expanding the borders of Germany through a show of military strength, coercing, demanding, threatening, and oppressing neighboring countries in Europe, and annexing parts or all of their territories to Germany. He was still blaming the Jews for all of Europe’s problems. The military arm of his Nazi Party was bitterly persecuting Jews in Germany and the annexed territories, while the rest of the world looked on silently. Jews were being falsely accused, imprisoned, beaten, tortured, etc. and the so-called “world community” was doing nothing. Finally, in 1938 war officially broke out in Europe and Hitler and his cronies put into effect their “Final Solution” to the Jewish problem. They began systematically exterminating the Jewish people in the gas chambers and ovens of their concentration camps. A new beginning!
In 1947, two years after the end of the 2nd World War, the United Nations approved a resolution dividing the land of Palestine into two states; one for the Arabs and the other for the Jews. The U.N. believed this would solve the conflict that had existed between Arabs and Jews since the implementation of the British Mandate following the 1st World War. The Jews hastily set up a provisional government, and when the British governor ended the British Mandate on May 14, 1948, David Ben Guiron, the Jewish provisional Prime Minister, publicly announced that the state of Israel was now an independent nation among the nations of the world. A new beginning!
In 1957 the Suez Canal war, which had broken out in 1956, came to an official end. As 1958 began a period of relative calm settled over the Middle East even though the Arab nations refused to sign a Peace Treaty and were still “technically” at a state of war with Israel. A new beginning!
In 1967 Egypt, Syria, and Jordan had united in a military alliance and were preparing to “drive Israel into the sea” [the exact words of Nassar of Egypt]. But Israel struck first in the now famous Six Day War. In that war Israel regained the whole city of Jerusalem, the entire west bank, and the entire Sinai peninsula. In the aftermath of the war the secular [non-religious] leaders of Israel gave the Temple Mount back to the Muslims and the Sinai back to Egypt. Because of their secular unbelief [Compare Numbers 14:26-35], in 1968 [Rosh HaShanah 1967 forward] Israel began 40 more years of servitude to the Gentile nations of the earth. Another new beginning!
In 1977, four years after the Yom Kippur war of 1973, negotiations began between Israel and Egypt to end their “state of war” and sign a permanent Peace Treaty. This effort was encouraged and mediated by then U. S. President Jimmy Carter. A Peace Treaty was signed between the two countries in 1978. A new beginning!
In 1987 Mikhail Gorbachev of Russia declared “perestroika” [openness] to all the Communist countries in the Soviet Union, beginning the process which ultimately led to the collapse of the whole USSR. At that time Ronald Reagan was President of the United States, and in a show of friendship invited Gorbachev to visit America. Gorbachev accepted the invitation, arriving in the U.S. on December 7, 1987 [Pearl Harbor Day] for an official visit. The next day, December 8, 1987, the Palestinian uprising began in Israel. Early in 1988 the Palestinian leaders called for the Muslim people to begin their first “Intifada” in Israel. A new beginning!
In 1997, four years after the agreement signed in 1993, negotiations were again taking place between Arafat of the Palestinians and Barak of Israel to find a “permanent” solution to the problems between the two peoples. The negotiations were being mediated by then U. S. President Bill Clinton. In 1998 a “Accord” was signed between the two parties, supposedly marking a new era of “peace.” A new beginning!
Folks, in writing this study, I didn’t have to stretch, strain, or invent anything. Everything I have pointed out is documented history. I ask you, the reader, did this all happen just this way by coincidence? Or was the unseen hand of God in it directing the affairs of men? Every year ending in seven during the past century a particular set of circumstances came to an end [was fulfilled or completed], and every year ending in eight there was a new beginning!
Now humanity has arrived at 2007. What now? What ending [fulfillment; completion] is the Lord going to bring to pass this year; 2007, that will result in a new beginning in 2008?
Glory! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! I THINK I KNOW! Do you?“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18<<<<<<< 0 >>>>>>>
NOTICE: Permission is granted to any true believer, or to any Bible believing Christian ministry, to forward this study to others, or to reproduce it to share with others, or to quote from it in context as written.
This ministry is supported solely by the freewill offerings of those who feel led of the Lord to help us send forth God’s wonderful Word.
All comments, questions, or correspondence should be addressed to:Last Call Gospel Ministry
Pastor F. M. Riley
3900 Clark Lane Lot 178
Columbia, MO 65202Our email address is: fmrglbd5@yahoo.com or fmrglbd5@aol.com
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