Gino,
As per normal you asked many interesting questions last week throughout your 5 posts to 5Doves. I would like to put forth my beliefs and discernment of scripture in an attempt to answer several of your questions. But rather than answer those questions individually I choose to respond with a biblical story line where the answers to your questions will hopefully be embedded for you to easily remove.
Start with an overview which is this.....
A 7 year period starts when God dispatches His two end time witnesses who minister the gospel of Jesus on the earth. God also at the same time “dismisses” 3 earthly religious shepherds who He loathes and who abhor Him. These 3 shepherds as per scripture are 3 popes. These 3 popes will be replaced by what God calls a “foolish shepherd”. This foolish shepherd will be as Daniel states....”different”. He will have the appearance / the shell of John Paul II and the “senses”of a demonic being who arises from the bottomless pit to indwell this shell / body of John Paul. This entity will become the foolish shepherd, the beast, the son of perdition, the little horn.......the antichrist.
These two factions..... the two witnesses and this new shepherd...... will run concurrent ministries (so to speak) for the first half of the 7 year period.
A righteous ministry will be run by the two witnesses in an effort to give every person on earth the opportunity to accept Jesus and His salvation message.
And.... an unrighteous evil scheming agenda propagated by the antichrist for this same period of time. The antichrist will use this time frame of nearly 3.5 years or the first half of a 7 year period...... to consolidate his grasp on total world power.
After this 1260 day / 3.5 year time period everyone on earth will have had the opportunity to choose.......and will never to able to address God and say they weren't given that opportunity to choose correctly.
At this point near the half way point of the 7 years Israel is attacked by “all nations”for whatever reason. I suspect a terrible major “false flag” event will be schemed by the antichrist and be blamed on Israel. The “United Nations”(all nations) including the US will find this event so egregious that “all nations” will come against Israel in an attempt to eradicate it and the Jewish people once and for all.
This is when we pick up the end times story line as it is depicted in Zechariah 14 which is this.....God the Father who has had a covenant relationship with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or “the whole house of Israel” comes to earth and intercedes for Israel after she has been attacked by “all nations” near the mid point of this 7 year period.
By the time He intervenes the majority of the inhabitants of Israel have been killed. And I believe that that speaks to the agreement Jacob had with God about returning 10%. It appears that God will honor that agreement and save only 10% of the living descendants of Jacob.
One of the first things God the Father does in this intervention is to step on the Mount of Olives causing the mountain to split in all directions creating a new very large valley. This new very large valley is large enough to accommodate a great multitude of people. One end of this new protected valley includes half of the city of Jerusalem. The prophet Daniel indicates that Michael the ark angel is tasked with his angelic command to protect this new valley causing it to be a security zone / refuge / protected area.
The remnant of Jews from Israel who are trying to escape the carnage of the massive attack upon Israel will flee to this new protected zone to seek refuge but will only be allowed in if their names appear in the book. (Daniel 12)
As per scripture it appears that both God the Father and Jesus will be involved with defending Israel and destroying the armies that have come against her.
The next major thing to happen is portrayed in Matthew 24:31 where we see God's angels at the sound of a great trumpet....... gather the “elect” from not only earth but also from heaven.
Where are all these elect beings gathered too? The new valley / security zone near Jerusalem.
Why are all these “elect” gathered there? War has broken out between God's forces and Satan's. (Revelation 12) So...to prevent these “elect” from being compromised by Satanic forces a huge security zone had to be established..... not only for the alive on earth but also those in heaven who have fallen asleep....who sleep in Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
Who are these “elect”that are gathered to this new valley / security zone?
The elect are a combination of groups composed of......
Group 1......the Christian Church both the alive and those who have “died in Christ” who God the Father brings back with Him from heaven at this time. 1 Thessalonians 4:14
Group 2......the living Jews from around the world whose names appear in the book (Daniel 12) will also be gathered and taken to this protection zone.
Group 3......The whole house of Israel / Jacob which includes all the dead descendants of Jacob that have ever lived......hundreds of millions of them. As described totally in Ezekiel 37
All of these “elect” whether Jew or Gentile who were dead will return with resurrected bodies when taken into this valley.
Now God the Father and Jesus have their entire harvest (if you will) Jew and Gentile enclosed and divinely protected within this new valley. All their eggs in one unbreakable basket ….so to speak.
Zechariah seems to tell us that in order for God's angels to pull this gathering off without interference from satanic forces a special day was dawned by God. Zechariah 14:6-7....
“It shall come to pass in that day
that there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
It shall be one day
Which is known to the Lord--
Neither day nor night.
But at evening time it shall happen
That it will be light”.
What then happens within this great valley is amazing. Zechariah says that also at this time a new river will spring out of Jerusalem within this protected valley. This river will contain “livings waters” (verse 8). It's my opinion that this new river will spring from the ground on the exact spot where Jesus was crucified 2000 years ago.
Why does this river contain “livings waters”?
Because nearly 2000 years ago when Jesus died there He shed not only His blood there on that ground but also His Spirit. Matthew 27:50, John 19:30
So these new “living waters” contain what is needed.......to be born again.
Jesus said in John 3:5....”Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God”.
At this point I would like to say that there will be two scenarios in play in this new valley.....a Christian / Gentile scenario and a Jewish scenario. I will describe the Christian scenario first and then the Jewish one.
The Christian scenario....
Ok...we have the whole Christian Church gathered in this new valley, those who are alive and those who have their resurrected bodies. This great multitude of people of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues will be immersed in the livings waters of this new river. Immersed in the blood and the Spirit of Jesus to become.....born again. To have their robs washed white in the blood of the Lamb as expressed in Revelation 7:14
All of this process to be “witnessed” by God's two end time servants just prior to their deaths at the 1260 day count or half way through the 7 years.
This born again process qualifies us.... as per Jesus....to enter the kingdom of God.
But as I have expressed before....I believe there will be a short delay before we can then be changed from mortal to immortal and rise to meet Jesus in the clouds above Jerusalem because the Satanic forces control everything outside this protected valley and also the airspace above.....as per Satan being.... the prince of the power of the air.
Did you ever wonder why it was necessary to roll up the sky above like a scroll as is described in Revelation 6? I believe that this will be necessary in order to defeat Satan's power over the air (skies above). I believe that when this scroll event happens, it's the signal for the Church to rise to meet Jesus in the clouds and be taken into the kingdom of God. Jesus will take us to a place of safety for the remainder of the tribulation period or the last half of the 7 year period.
At that point, at the end of the 7 years, as per Revelation 19, we will return with Jesus (the second advent) all riding white horses as we watch Jesus defeat the armies Satan has amassed on earth.
Did you ever wonder why we Christians meet Jesus in the clouds? I believe I have the answer.
Remember all the information that I described above about splitting the Mount of Olives, the new valley and the new river and setting up the security zone for the Jewish remnant......where this remnant will spend the remainder of the 7 years being fed and protected. It appears to me that it was all done by God the Father. He is the one protecting this Jewish remnant who He has a covenant with.
Jesus is remaining at arms length (so to speak).....up in the clouds. Why? I believe that the why is because the Jews rejected Him when He came the first time so He is rejecting them and will not appear to them there in the new valley but will meet and greet His Christian followers in the clouds above Jerusalem......shunning the Jews who rejected Him at this particular time frame.
Remember Matthew 23:37-39.... Jesus is speaking to the Jews
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (you crucified Me)
38 See! Your house (country of Israel) has left to you desolate; (almost completely destroyed by the attack of “all nations”in the time of Jacob's trouble / during the tribulation period)
39 for I (Jesus) say to you (Jews), you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (when He returns at the end of the 7 years as King of Kings and Lord of Lords)
He Jesus will not even give the Jews in this valley a peak at Him, their true messiah, until He comes at the second advent or at the end of the 7 years.
How jealous will those remnant Jews be when they witness the Christian church there in this valley being “born again” and transformed from mortal to immortal and then whisked away to paradise.......knowing that it could have been them but for their rejection.
Remember the only Jews to be allowed into the kingdom will be the Messianic ones who have accepted Jesus as their savior. The rest of the “living” Jews, the remnant, will be left behind but taken care of in this new valley.
Now...The Jewish scenario.....
Ok....we have seen above where the Christian church has been removed by Jesus and taken to a place of safety for the remaining 3.5 years. And in the process, Jesus shunning the Jewish remnant that has been left behind.
Now lets focus on the Jewish components of this whole valley phenomenon. There are multiple factions that will be compiled here in this valley.
You have the Jewish remnant who are the alive Jews whose names appear in the book some who escaped directly from war in Israel to the valley and some who were gathered by the angels from other parts of earth and taken to this valley.
Then you have the hundreds of millions of resurrected Jews who have returned as per Ezekiel 37.
And most importantly you have within this great Jewish resurrection the “first fruits” from the alive Jews and from the great Jewish resurrection......those being.....the 144,000. Twelve thousand from all the tribes of the children of Israel.
It appears that these 144,000 take priority even over the Christian church. The bible indicates that these “first fruits”of the combined harvest are dealt with first.
They are sealed on their foreheads with the seal of God the Father. (Revelation 14:1)
It says that these 144,000 will follow the Lamb (Jesus) wherever he goes. That they were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.(Revelation 14:4)
It appears that these 144,000 will also be taken up in the rapture due to the text in Revelation 14.....”these 144,000 will follow the Lamb wherever He goes”. It appears that these 144,000 will be Jesus's personal entourage....so to speak. And if He leaves in the rapture....they will to.
Now lets focus on the hundreds of millions of resurrected Jews.....the whole house of Jacob......as per Ezekiel 37 that will also be present in this valley.
What we know about them as is expressed in Ezekiel 37 is that when they return there is a period of time when they regain their bodies but are absent the breath of life. Meaning that for a period of time they remain in what could be called...... suspended animation. Ezekiel 37:8. And when the time is right with God the Father, days or weeks later, the “four winds” will be blown on these people and they will be restored to a conscious state. Ezekiel 37:10
And it's very clear there in Ezekiel 37 what these untold millions of resurrected descendants of Jacob are going to be used for.......”and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. (verse 10)
And to make this army awesome.....God the Father puts His own Spirit into them.
“Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land”. (verse 13-14)
We find out about this “exceedingly great army” in Revelation 9. We also find out what God considers as “exceedingly great” and what God has tasked “His army” (Joel 2:11) to do. There in Revelation 9 we see this army numbers two hundred million and it is tasked to kill one third of the population of earth. As I have said many times on 5Doves the ride and the horror of this army is depicted in many sections of the bible such as Joel 2.
God says He will destroy all the armies that came against Jerusalem. And scripture says that “all nations” come against Israel so it's easy to see how the number of dead killed by God's army could be so massive a number. Add to that those who had it in their hearts to kill a Jew if they had a chance.....the followers of Allah.... and it's easy for me to see how a third of the world's population will be killed.
Now the final component of these Jews that I have not discussed are the remnant whose names appear in the book. Those being the Jews who are alive and have escaped to this new protected valley and those from other parts of earth who were gathered by the angels and brought to this new protected valley.
Revelation 12 says that these people will be fed and protected there for 1260 days.
But the way I read the bible and the story doesn't end there for these Jews.
Because they rejected the messiah (Jesus) and the blood sacrifice He made they will have to revert back to the original blood sacrifices of animals as per the old testament in order to atone for their sins.....and they will have to direct this atonement to God the Father for the remaining 3.5 years of the tribulation period until Jesus returns to take His earthly throne.
Jesus has left the world stage and taken His church to safety away from earth but God the Father remains in this new valley that He created. I believe I read somewhere in scripture that He temporarily sets up on top of the Mount of Olives kind of like when He set up on top of Mount Sinai in the days of Moses. I say temporarily because it is apparent to me from scripture that the ark of the covenant will be returned to Mount Zion (Mount of Olives) by the Ethiopian people who have guarded it all these centuries.....this as is relayed to us through scripture in Isaiah 18:7 and Zephaniah 3:10
Isaiah 18 is a rapture chapter and appears to be in chronological order. If so, and I believe this is the case....the ark will be returned right after the rapture happens.
Once the ark has been returned to Mount Zion / Mount of Olives God the Father can use it as His residence as was before in the old testament.
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 says.....
…....and there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which it may be said, “See this is new”?
It has already been in ancient times before us.
So the remnant Jews living in this “protected” valley will be unencumbered by outside forces from rebuilding the third temple exactly where the old ones were because if you remember from Zechariah 14 half of the city of Jerusalem will be included in this new security zone.
Then, due to the rejection of Jesus as messiah by the Jews, things will revert backwards thousands of years where God the Father will reside in the Ark of the Covenant within the new temple (for 3.5 years) and again receive all the old testament sacrifices and offerings for the atonement of sins from the Jews..... as it was millennium ago.
Did not Jesus prophesy this whole protected valley scenario would happen when He walked the earth 2000 years ago........ as He (Jesus) expressed the prophecy in an unusual place...... “The Lords Prayer”?? Matthew 6:8-13
Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen
The words in this prayer are striking when one overlays them on this protected valley scenario where God the Father comes to earth and sets up His kingdom there. He as per Revelation 12 feeds the remnant there for 1260 days......”give us our daily bread”. “
”Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one”.....please do not let us be tempted by the antichrist, the evil one, and fall to his lies.
Gino...last week you posted verses from Titus 3. These verses really caught my eye and I believe they fit perfectly into the scenario I just presented above.
It's Titus 3:4-7 saying....
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
If I am not wrong, it says, that we are saved by mercy through grace by the washing of regeneration (in the living waters perhaps) and renewing of the Holy Spirit (in the living waters perhaps)
It says “renewing” of the Spirit. We know that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we receive the Holy Spirit but where can we get that Spirit “renewed'?
Obviously Paul is referencing this “renewal process” (here in Titus) to this new river emanating from Jerusalem which contains “living waters”. Living waters because these waters contains the blood and the Spirit of Jesus as I discussed above.
And will these waters be poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior as in verse 6?
Yes, this waters from this new river which contain the blood and Spirit of Jesus will be poured on us abundantly.
And through this process of washing and renewing in the blood and the Spirit won't we then become “born again” as Jesus mandated in John 3? And through His grace and this re-birth will we become heirs and achieve the goal of eternal life? Yes...I believe that's what verse 7 states.
Gino....you asked if the lost will hear Jesus shout when we are taken?
My understanding of this is there will be two events of trumpets and one event of a shout.
What do I mean?
The first event is described in Matthew 24:31 where God sends His angels at the sound of a great trumpet to gather all His elect from heaven and earth to this new valley in Israel.....as I described in detail above in the text.
The second event happens later as is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 and takes place from within this new valley after the Christian church has been “born again” in the living waters.
This is when Jesus shouts to us and blows the trumpet of God beckoning us to meet Him in the clouds above.....all to the dismay of the watching (jealous) Jewish remnant.
So do the lost around the world hear the initial gathering trumpet ? I'm thinking... yes
Do they hear the shout of Jesus and the trumpet blast calling the Christian Church to rise which happens above this new valley complex? I'm thinking ...no
So Gino....I believe I answered most of the questions you proposed in your multiple posts last week and I am sure I gave you a lot to mentally chew on.
I know that the manor in which I write seems to portray that........this is the way it is going to be. But please know that these are my beliefs and my discernment of the Word and are by no means meant to express.....”thus saith the Lord”.
I have been writing to 5Doves for several weeks now touching on the same basic overview of this mostly mid-point tribulation period. I have tried to provide ample scripture references in an attempt to back up this amazing story line that I have been promoting......... which in all honesty has been “downloaded” to me quite recently. I truly believe what I have promoted is accurate and I feel blessed that God has “seemingly” shared all this with me.
Blessings Gino.....keep those questions coming ☺
John B