The book of Daniel contains a certain chapter
which God instructed him to seal. It was in a vision Daniel could see and write about, but not understand its
meaning. Nor would anyone else -- “until the time of the
end.”
One of the most exciting things about prophecy
is to be living in a day where one can “see things come to pass”, not because
of any scholarly wisdom, but because events were first required to
happen, (even over thousands of years) before the things Daniel was
shown could suddenly be understood. It would not
happen in his generation, but would be reserved for the final last
days.
Such is what Daniel saw in his vision some
2500 years ago:
First, Daniel was told that there would be “a
time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation”, but that God’s
people would be delivered, many of those already dead, “shall awake, some
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt: that the wise
would shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to
righteousness, as the stars forever and ever”. (Daniel 12:1-3).
Undoubtedly, Daniel was seeing the same as the Apostle
John did on the isle of Patmos when he described the great Tribulation and the
glorious returning of Jesus Christ, and also that of Paul
in the book of Thessalonians.
But in verse (4) Daniel is told to “shut up
the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: MANY SHALL RUN TO
AND FRO, AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL BE INCREASED”.
Three clues were all that Daniel was allowed
to hear:
-
MANY WOULD RUN TO
AND FRO;
-
KNOWLEDGE WOULD BE INCREASED.
-
THERE WOULD BE A TIME OF TROUBLE, WORSE THAN
ANYTHING EXPERIENCED BEFORE
Daniel begged more of the Lord to
explain that vision, but again, he was told that “the words are closed up and
sealed until the time of the end”. It is no wonder that Daniel
remarked “I heard, but did not understand”. He couldn’t. For the
revelation of those words was sealed, “until the time of the end”.
If you and I are living in the time of the end,
(which I believe we are), then we are in a time when we can understand.
Let’s see what a marvelous and exciting time
to be alive!
MANY
WOULD RUN TO AND FRO.
Today, you and I can find our seat in an
airplane and jet away to any place on earth. But two hundred years ago,
roughly the year 1800, nothing moved any faster than a horse!
In his book, Undaunted
Courage author Stephen Ambrose wrote:
“Since the birth of
civilization there had been no changes in commerce or transportation.
Americans lived in a free and democratic society, the first in the world
since ancient Greece, a society that read Shakespeare and had produced
George Washington and Thomas Jeferson, but a society whose technology was
barely advanced over that of the Greeks. The Americans of 1801 had
more gadgets, better weapons, a superior knowledge of geography, and other
advantages over the ancients, but they could not move goods or themselves or
information by land or water any faster than had the Greeks and Romans.
Transportation was
primitive, at best. Even with the
later advent of railroads and cars, there were few roads, whose condition
was so bad that it took 3 days for a light stagecoach, carrying only
passengers, their baggage, and changing horses every way station, to go from
Boston to New York, a distance of only 175 miles. In 1801 it took 10
days for then-president Jefferson to reach Philadelphia from Monticello,
just 225 miles---in TEN DAYS!
Two hundred years ago our
great-great-grandfathers built their barns next to their houses, so as to
house and feed their livestock and care for them during inclement
weather. The harnesses, the blankets, the wagons and buggies, water and
feeding troughs were carefully attended to-- especially for those valuable
animals that could plow their fields, take them to villages and carry the
heavy loads of commerce and trade. But after the
incredible passage of time, the horse was soon about to be put “out to
pasture”.
There are people still alive today who
remember riding the buckboard to church who have witnessed this great
transformation of transportation. Daniel’s vision of people going
to and fro had never happened before.
Then we read what Jesus spoke: (Matthew
24:14)
King James 2000 BibleAnd this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the
end come.
Jesus’
first-century disciples were instructed to go into all the world, but
they either had to either walk, ride an animal, or take a sailing vessel to
travel anywhere. For the Gospel to be preached to
every nation on the earth, it would require a time of rapid communication and
transportation. And, as Jesus noted, the Gospel would have to first
cover every nation before the end would come.
When
the sailing vessels brought the Pilgrims, the Quakers and other devout
Christians to our shores, they were aware of the hazards ahead, as well
as remembering the persecution left behind. Whenever they could
secure passage, many of the poorer people paid for it by taking care of all
the animals that people brought with them, feeding them and cleaning up the
mess, for they brought with them every necessary farm animal they could bring
to the “new world”. There would be lots of land for
farmers to start clearing away, but without a horse, oxen or a mule,
they could hardly expect to see a crop brought in that might sustain them and
produce goods which they might barter or sell. Like Daniel, not
having yet seen a tractor or a hay baler, a computer or a cell phone, men only
thought how things would happen with the same “horse mentality”of their
fathers before them.
God Himself gave them leaders with the
wisdom to form a new government which embraced the one factor which
they knew would guarantee the success and blessings of Almighty God:
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the
Lord”. References written in their Declaration of
Independence, their Constitution, their Bill of Rights, and included in their
writings, speeches and official documents, were careful reminders to its early
pilgrims and citizens, that this nation would always be strong
only as it honored the Lord Jesus Christ and Him
only. Notice the phrase “whose God is
the Lord”. Every tribe on earth honored their gods, which could be
anything or anyone. But who, exactly, was the Lord? That name was
specific: the Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul clarified it in several
verses of scripture:
“For though there be that are called gods,
whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many, But
to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in
him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by
him".”
(1 Corinthians 8:5-6)
“...(speaking of Jesus Christ) “God hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and thing in
earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians
2:9-11)
What other nation on earth had ever declared
Jesus Christ as Lord? Not even His own people, the Jews.
The name Jesus Christ was synomous with
persecution, as was predicted in the Bible. Paul wrote:
…persecutions, and
sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra;
what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!
Indeed, all who desire to live
godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Tim
3:12)
Many who migrated to America were looking for
opportunity, land, and riches. But such people as Quakers, Pilgrims,
and other religious groups were anxious to live without the persecution from
state and royalty throughout Europe. Imprisonment, confistication of
property, even death by crucifixion and the lions of barbarian Rome’s
collosium had slaughtered Christians since Jesus left earth in a
cloud. No wonder they longed for freedom to live and worship the
Lord.
However, the freedom of one might be the denial of
the same to another without laws. That is when men of God began to search
the Bible for an answer. They read “Blessed is the nation whose
God is the LORD.” How happy it made me to read recently that some
are realizing the importance of that statement: Recently, the Crow Indian Nation placed a 33’ high
billboard along their highway proclaiming Jesus Christ is Lord over the Crow
reservation---and also Guatemala legislatively made the same
proclaimation.
SOME are realizing our
problems are because we have pushed God out of our countries. “Blessed is
the nation whose God is the Lord”. Thank God! And it is
noteworthy to remember that the church George Washington attended was the
only building untouched and remaining at ground zero in the 9/11
tragedy.
KNOWLEDGE SHALL
BE INCREASED
Inventions became the “new thing”.
Jefferson himself had been intrigued by them, and questions required
solutions. There is no better scripture that describes the world over
the past 200 years. From the horse & buggy to jets that scream
across the skies, computers, electricity, atomic energy, automobiles,
telephones...the list is so very long.
Tomorrow I celebrate my 81st birthday.
Do I have something to say?
Those of you who know me are aware that I am
at times quite opinionated concerning what we see happening in our country and
others, for without any doubt in my mind I do not see much of a passionate
zeal among “Christians” to endure until the end. A lot of has crept in
to lull us into a kind of stupor as to the seriousness of the hour.
Complacency has largely replaced urgency in many minds; which was long ago
prophesied to happen in the last days. A falling away---an acceptance of
sin as whatever one choses to believe as sin, but casting aside what God says
about the subject. A “modern” approach to different lifestyles and acceptable
worship. And for those who are not willing to verbally object, an
acceptance of it by their silence.
Skiing can be a lot of fun to a lot of people,
but there is also the possibility and danger that we can be swallowed up by
the avalance we ourselves created---just having fun.
There has always been a price attached to
following Christ. No feather-bed was offered. No life of ease and
complacency---rather the opposite: tribulation. Jesus did not leave
anything uncovered that was subject to debate. All that lived and walked
in Him would suffer persecution—and it would mostly be the “religious” who
would deal the blows. But to want to go His way, it would cause them to think
very differently from their old ideas. Now they would see it as joy and
unspeakable glory, just as Paul and Silas sang songs and praised the Lord
while in prison.
A lot of technology, like anything else, can
be a blessing, but also has another side to it. Used to, I could count
on the long waits in Airports to be a time of witnessing or finding a stranger
to sit and fellowship. No more—nowadays you cannot even go to lunch with
friends without either an ipad or a cell phone being there to interrupt
conversations. People can’t seem to care about it, either. I
shudder to think how it has isolated us so much that we can live in our own
little world of Facebook accounts or just texting friends and family, not
noticing the Zaccheuses sitting in the tree over our heads or the woman with
an issue of blood tagging along behind us.
A TIME OF
TROUBLE LIKE NONE OTHER
Sometimes people forget. Jesus will
return when we “think not” and suddenly. “People have been saying that
over and over again.” Don’t bother me to be watching and observing
those things we see happening right before our eyes”.
But as we see “those things approaching---the
signs, and the days in which we live, I am thinking we
best not forget to be ready, whether old or young. The fire of the
Holy Spirit must be ablaze in our hearts.
How easy to slip on cold ice. I should
know...I live in Alaska.
MARY E ADAMS