Jeremiah 33:3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know..."
I believe the key to understanding where we are in these final days is found in Psalm 90.
The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.To be honest I always considered 70 years from the time that Israel was reestablshed to be the the consumation of time that brings about the rapture. I couldn't fathom how the "strength" of man could stretch out our days an additional 10 years.
It wasn't until I did a Strong's Concordance study of the word "strength" that it began to make sense to me.
"The days 3117 of our years 8141 [are] threescore 7657 0 years 8141 and ten 7657; and if by reason of strength 1369 [they be] fourscore 8084 years 8141, yet [is] their strength 7296 labour 5999 and sorrow 205; for it is soon 2440 cut off 1468 , and we fly away 5774 . "
Notice that "strength" is word number 7296. The meaning of strength is thus the following...
1) arrogance, pride, object of pride
Pride is easier to understand as the significant word in Psalm 90. "Pride goes before destruction" Prov. 16:18.
It was pride that preceded Satan's fall. It was pride that caused David to number his people in a census and usher in a plague. It was pride that caused the tower of Babel to be built. Over and over again it is pride that precipitates a fall and punishment.
Spurgeon said... "Almost every event has its prophetic prelude. It is an old and common saying, that "coming events cast their shadows before them;" the wise man teaches us the same lesson in the verse before us. When destruction walks through the land, it casts its shadow; it is in the shape of pride. When honor visits a man's house, it casts its shadow before it; it is in the fashion of humility. "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty;" pride is as surely the sign of destruction as the change of mercury in the weather-glass is the sign of rain, and far more infallibly so than that."
No more prideful generation has ever existed than this generation. My hope is that the prayer imbedded in Psalm 90 will be answered...
"Return, O Lord!
How long?
And have compassion on Your servants.
14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!Yes Lord! Satisfy us early, oh Lord! Hear our plea and make us not wait any longer. We long to fly away as Psalm 90 says.YbiC
Bruce Baber