From the book by David Jeremiah
COMMENT:
We'll see how the Protestant prophets do with the SECOND coming
of Christ to live on earth - Keith Hunt.
......
The Return of the King
IN A ROOM DECORATED FOR AN ALBANIAN FUNERAL, OUR missionary
to Albania, Ian Loring, delivered a powerful Good Friday message
about Christ's great sacrificial death. Afterward, he invited
everyone to come back on Sunday to observe the "third day
ritual." In Albanian culture, friends return three days after a
funeral to sit with the family, drink bitter coffee, and remember
the one who has died. More than three hundred people filled the
room that Easter Sunday. Ian preached about the "not quite empty
tomb," observing that Christ's empty grave clothes still bore His
shape, but the napkin, which had been wrapped around His head,
was placed away from the other grave clothes, folded. To Ian's
congregation, that minor detail held great meaning and promise.
In Albania, when a person has finished a meal and prepares
to leave the table, he crumples up his napkin to indicate that he
is finished. But if, instead, he leaves his napkin folded, it is
a sign that he plans to come back. The application was obvious to
the Albanians. Jesus is coming back!
The second coming of Christ is a central theme of much of
the Bible, and it is one of the best-attested promises in all of
Scripture. Christians can rest in the sure conviction that just
as Jesus came to earth the first time, so He will return at the
conclusion of the Great Tribulation.
As Christians, we are quite familiar with our Lord's first
coming to earth because we accept the record of the four Gospels.
It is history. The Bible clearly tells us that He is coming to
earth again. Though the exact expression "the second coming of
Christ" is not found in the Bible, it makes the assertion in many
places. For example, the writer of Hebrews said: "And as it is
appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so
Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who
eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from
sin, for salvation" (9:27-28).
The Old Testament prophecies of Christ's first and second
advents are so mingled that Jewish scholars did not clearly see
them as separate events. Their perception of these prophecies was
like viewing a mountain range from a distance. They saw what
appeared to be one mountain, failing to see that there was
another equally high mountain behind it, obscured from their
sight through the perspective of distance. The prophets saw both
comings of Christ either as one event or as very closely related
in time. One Bible scholar has written: "Words spoken in one
breath, and written in one sentence, may contain prophetic events
millennia apart in their fulfilments."
This mixing of two prophetic events into one may partially
explain why the Jews as a whole rejected Christ. The prophecies
speak of the Messiah both enduring great suffering and
accomplishing a great conquest. They thought the suffering savior
would become the conquering savior in one advent. They did not
realize He would come a first time to suffer and then a second
time to conquer.
It is evident that even Jesus' followers expected Him to
fulfil the glorious promises relating to His second coming when
He came the first time. Only after He ascended to heaven did they
realize that they were living in the time period between His two
appearances, as if on a plain between two mountains. Theologian
John E Walvoord explains:
From the present day vantage point. . . since the first
coming is history and Second Coming is prophecy, it is
comparatively easy to go back into the Old Testament and
separate the doctrine of Jesus' two comings. In His first
coming He came as a man, lived among people, performed
miracles, ministered as a prophet as the Old Testament
predicted, and died on the cross and rose again. All these
events clearly relate to His first coming. On the other
hand, the passages that speak of His coming to reign,
judging the earth, rescuing the righteous from the wicked,
and installing His kingdom on earth relate to His second
coming. They are prophecy, not history.
Nothing could be more dramatic than the contrast between our
Lord's first and second comings:
In His first coming He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. In
His second coming He will be clothed royally in a robe dipped in
blood.
In His first coming He was surrounded by cattle and common
people. In His second coming He will be accompanied by the
massive armies of heaven.
In His first coming the door of the inn was closed to Him.
In His second coming the door of the heavens will be opened to
Him.
In His first coming His voice was the tiny cry of a baby. In
His second coming His voice will thunder as the sound of many
waters.
In His first coming, He was the Lamb of God who came
bringing salvation. In His second coming, He will be the Lion of
the tribe of Judah who comes bringing judgment.
Rapture / Translation
1. Translation of all believers
2. Translated saints go to heaven
3. Earth not judged 3.
4. Imminent, any moment, signless
5. Not in Old Testament
6. Believers only
7. Before the day of wrath
8. No references to Satan
9. Christ comes for His own
10. He comes in the air
11. He claims His bride
12. Only His own see Him
13. Tribulation begins
COMMENT:
Did you catch all this. It's the fundamental Protestant prophets
teaching, quite dogmatically with them is this "secret" FIRST-PHASE of
their teaching of a TWO-PHASED Second coming of Christ. Such a
Two-phased coming is NOWHERE taught in the Scriptures! Did you
notice point 5? SUCH A TEACHING IS ***NOT*** FOUND INN THE OLD
TESTAMENT!! THEY ADMIT IT!! And I guess so, for you can hunt high
and low, back and forth, up and down, inside and outside, AND YOU
WILL NOT FIND A SECRET RAPTURE ANYWHERE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT!!
All you will find is ONE GLORIOUS OPEN VISIBLE, IN MIGHT AND POWER,
of a RETURNING MESSIAH!!
And you will NOT FIND anywhere in the New Testament any "secret
rapture" either. Such a teaching is from the minds of BLINDED
people who just cannot put the New Testament Scriptures together
correctly, and from a VERY BAD understanding of Daniel 9 and the
70 week prophecy. YOU do NOT have to be BLINDED! YOU can
understand the teaching of the "Second Coming" of Christ from the
New Testament. I have EXPOUNDED OVER AND OVER AGAIN to you the
CORRECT and SIMPLE (even a child can understand) teaching of the
RETURN of the Messiah Christ Jesus to this earth, on this Website
- Keith Hunt.
......
SECOND COMING/ESTABLISHED KINGDOM
1. No translation at all
2. Translated saints return to earth
3. Earth judged and righteousness established
4. Followers definite predicted signs, including the
Tribulation
5. Predicted often in Old Testament
6. Affects all humanity
7. Concluding the day of wrath
8. Satan bound
9. Christ comes with His own
10. He comes to the earth
11. He comes with His bride
12. Every eye shall see Him
COMMENT:
Point one is totally WRONG! At the coming of Christ, at the last
trumpet, those dead will be translated or raised to immortality,
those alive will be changed from mortal to immortal - 1 Cor.15
and 1 Thes.4 - it is the SAME EVENT - the ONE and ONLY ONE
literal and visible Second Coming of Christ. Put Scripture with
Scripture - even a child can understand. I understood this when I
was 11 years old! Just from reading my New Testament, with no
teaching from any "preacher" or "denomination" of Christianity.
No "secret rapture" is taught anywhere in the Bible.
Point two is correct IF you put 1 Cor.15 with 1 Thes.4. The
saints have been raised from the dead, the living saints are made
immortal, they all, through the angel's leading (Mat.24:29-31) go
to meet Christ in the air, in the clouds, on the sea of glass,
receive their rewards, and CONTINUE with Christ to RETURN to
earth, to the Mount of Olives, to Jerusalem (Zechariah 14 - "in
that day" note it - He fights the nations [battle of Armageddon]
and His feet stand on the mount of Olives, and the saints with
Him - "in that day"). All very simple, even for a child to
understand.
The rest of the points Jeremiah has CORRECT! Wow, woopee, how
about that, miracles do still happen! - Keith Hunt.
......
The Anticipation of Christ
Although Christians are most familiar with the first coming
of Christ, it is the second coming that gets the most ink in the
Bible. References to the Second Coming outnumber references to
the first by a factor of eight to one. Scholars count 1,845
biblical references to the Second Coming, including 318 in the
New Testament. His return is emphasized in no less than seventeen
Old Testament books and seven out of every ten chapters in the
New Testament. The Lord Himself referred to His return twenty-one
times. The Second Coming is second only to faith as the most
dominant subject in the New Testament. Let's look briefly at some
of the most significant of these references.
The Prophets Foretold the Second Coming of Christ
While many of the Old Testament prophets wrote concerning
the second coming of Christ, it is Zechariah who has given us the
clearest and most concise prediction of it:
Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet
will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on
the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to
west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall
move toward the north And half of it toward the south.
(Zechariah 14:3-4)
Notice how Zechariah deals in specifics, even pinpointing
the geographic location to which Christ will return: "In that day
His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives" (14:4). Like
Armageddon, the Mount of Olives is an explicitly identifiable
place that retains its ancient name even today. Recently I
visited a Jewish cemetery that has been on this site since
biblical times. The prophet's specificity gives us confidence
that his prophecy is true and accurate. Unlike vague
fortune-tellers and prophetic charlatans, this prophet dared to
be explicit and specific so that the truth of his prophecy cannot
be missed when the event occurs.
Jesus Himself Announced His Second Coming
Jesus, speaking from the Mount of Olives, affirmed His
second coming to His disciples in dramatic and cataclysmic terms:
"For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the
west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be ...
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will
be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars
will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be
shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in
heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and
they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:27, 9-30)
COMMENT:
If you will please open your Bible, you will notice Jeremiah does
not quote verse 31. Verse 31 tells you in plain language that it
is AT THIS TIME, that the angels gather the elect from the four
winds. They are not YET with Christ, as He comes into the clouds.
This verse and 1 Cor.15 - the last trump - and 1 Thes.4:13-18,
should put it together in clear language, and dump the "secret
rapture" to the bottom of the deep blue sea. I suspect prophets
like Jeremiah would say, "Well verse 31 is the gathering of elect
that have been converted during the last half of the 7 year week-
long great tribulation as they teach it. But all the CONTEXT of
Matthew 24 speaks NOTHING of a "secret" rapture or ANYTHING like
a rapture or resurrection for anyone prior to giving it in verse 31.
God warns both in the Old and New Testament about ADDING or SUBTRACTING
from His Word. To add things into Matthew 24 is to put yourself
on dangerous ground - Keith Hunt
......
The Angels Announced that Jesus Would Return
Immediately following Christ's ascension into heaven, two
angels appeared to the stunned disciples and spoke words of
comfort to them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand
gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken from you
into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into
heaven" (Acts 1:11). The next verse tells us "they returned to
Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet" (v.12). Did you catch
that? Jesus ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives.
According to the angels, Christ will return to that very same
spot - the Mount of Olives. The words of the angels conveyed both
consolation for the disciples' present loss of Jesus and
confirmation of His future return.
John the Apostle Foretold Jesus' Second Coming
The prophecies of Christ's return are like bookends to
John's Revelation. In the first chapter he wrote: "Behold, He is
coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who
pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because
of Him" (v. 7). And in the last pages of the last chapter -
indeed, almost the last words of the New Testament - our Lord
emphatically affirms His second coming: "He who testifies to
these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly.' Amen. Even so,
come, Lord Jesus!" (22:20).
Obviously we have excellent reason to anticipate the return
of Christ. The Bible affirms it throughout as a certainty,
describing it in specific terms and with ample corroboration.
The Advent of Christ
Twice in the book of Revelation we are told that the door to
heaven will be opened. It is first opened to receive the church
into heaven at the time of the Rapture: "After these things I
looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first
voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying,
'Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place
after this"' (4:1).
COMMENT:
Did you catch Jeremiah putting ideas into your mind? If we are
going to say anyone goes through a door into heaven, the verse
does not say it is the "church" or the "saints" - it's only John,
as the angel speaks to him. Much like Ezekiel, John is shown in
vision and the minds eye, things that must come to pass. If you
want to argue someone went to heaven from this verse, it can only
be John; the church or saints are not mentioned period! There is
no resurrection or rapture of saints here being talked about.
That idea comes from the mind of Protestant prophets that twist
the Scriptures or add things that the verse/s of Scripture do NOT
say anything about, it's what the ideas of men "add" to the verse/s -
Keith Hunt.
......
The door swings open a second time for Christ and His church
to proceed from heaven on their militant march back to earth
(19:11,14). The first opening is for the Rapture of the saints;
the second is for the return of Christ!
COMMENT:
You should by now, if you have your eyes open, and your mind, be
seeing very clearly how these Protestant prophets just throw
things they teach, anywhere into the Scriptures. They know that
most people will not take the time to "prove all things" - they
know people are like "dumb sheep" - they know the segment of
Christianity that reads their books - the fundamental folks,
follow and soak in as truth, nearly everything these fundamental
prophets teach. They know they are on pretty firm ground to just
throw in whatever they like, and have hundreds of thousands or
even some millions, just believing it. They know the people who
follow them, put them up on some high step-ladder, and will not
question what they say or teach. So their books keep selling, and
they keep writing more of the same. They know the people love to
be told what they want to hear, so they do not rock the boat;
most of the time this is how these guys pay the bills and put
food in their mouth, by writing books telling people what they
want to hear, so the circle goes around and around - Keith Hunt.
......
When Jesus arrives on earth the second time, His landing
will dramatically herald the purpose of His coming. The moment
His feet touch the Mount of Olives, the mountain will split
apart, creating a broad passageway from Jerusalem to Jericho. As
you can imagine, this will be an unprecedented geological
cataclysm. In describing it, Dr. Tim LaHaye wrote: "There will be
a Stellar Event. Celestial. Cosmic. Greater than earth. Greater
than the heavens. And it will suck the air out of humanity's
lungs and send men and women and kings and presidents and tyrants
to their knees. It will have no need of spotlights, fog machines,
amplified music, synthesizers, or special effects. It will be
real."
Thus Christ's return will be amplified by a devastating
spectacle that will make Hollywood disaster movies look like
Saturday morning child's fare. The world will see and recognize
its rightful Lord and King. Whereas He came the first time in
humility and simplicity, this time His glory and majesty will be
spectacularly displayed for all to see.
COMMENT:
Now they of course must throw in some plain truth here and there.
If they do not have "some" truth sprinkled around, they would
have no way to keep their followers and sell their books. Satan
does come often as an angel of light, the apostle Paul said that.
So now we will see some truth that unless you are totally blind
from birth and cannot hear anyone reading the Bible to you, is
pretty hard to not get correct - Keith Hunt
......
Let's look briefly at the Bible's description of the glory
and majesty Christ will display at His second coming.
His Designation
In Revelation 19, the descending Lord is given three
meaningful titles.
Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He
who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness He judges and makes war ... He had a name
written that no one knew except Himself ... and His name is
called The Word of God ... And He has on His robe and on His
thigh a name written: KING of KINGS AND LORD of LORDS. (vv.
11-13,16)
These three names are not merely rhetorical embellishments
or empty titles. Prophecy scholar Harry lronside gives us insight
into their significance:
In these three names we have set forth first, our Lord's
dignity as the Eternal Son; second, His incarnation - the
Word became Flesh; and last, His second advent to reign as
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
These three names encompass the entire ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The first name, the one known only to God,
indicates His intimacy and oneness with the Father and thus His
eternal existence, including His role ... as creator and
sustainer of the world. The second name, the Word of God, harks
back to the first chapter of John's gospel and indicates His
incarnation when "the Word became flesh," walked as a man upon
this earth, and revealed God to us. The third name, the majestic
and towering syllables, King of kings and Lord of lords, is the
title He will wear at His second coming, designating His role as
the sovereign ruler over all the earth.
His Description
The eyes of the returning Christ are described as burning
like a flame of fire, signifying His ability as a judge to see
deeply into the hearts of men and ferret out all injustice
(Revelation 1:14; 2:18; 19:12). His eyes will pierce through the
motives of nations and individuals and judge them for what they
really are ... not for how they hope their masks of hypocrisy
will make them appear!
The head of the returning Christ is crowned with many crowns
(Revelation 19:12), testifying to His status as the absolute
sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords - the undisputed
monarch of the entire earth. Famed nineteenth-century London
preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon described the comfort and
security that we derive from the sovereignty of Christ:
I am sure there is no more delightful doctrine to a
Christian, than that of Christ's absolute sovereignty. I am
glad there is no such thing as chance, that nothing is left
to itself, but that Christ everywhere hath sway. If I
thought that there was a devil in hell that Christ did not
govern, I should be afraid that devil would destroy me. If I
thought there was a circumstance on earth, which Christ did
not over-rule, I should fear that that circumstance would
ruin me. Nay, if there were an angel in heaven that was not
one of Jehovah's subjects, I should tremble even at him. But
since Christ is King of kings, and I am his poor brother,
one whom he loves, I give all my cares to him, for he careth
for me; and leaning on his breast, my soul hath full repose,
confidence, and security.
The robe of the returning Christ is dipped in blood,
reminding us that He is the sacrificial Lamb of God. Earlier in
Revelation, John described Him as "the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world" (13:8). In fact, Jesus will be
represented to us as the Lamb of God throughout eternity. In a
sense, eternity will be an extended Communion service as we
remember forever with love and gratitude the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ that united us with God and gave us an eternity of joy
with Him.
The Armies of Christ
When Jesus returns to this earth to put down the world's
ultimate rebellion, the armies of heaven will accompany him. John
described these armies as "clothed in fine linen, white and
clean, [following] Him on white horses" (Revelation 19:14).
In the short epistle that immediately precedes the book of
Revelation, Jude described this epic event in verses 14 and 15:
Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men
also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of
His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who
are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they
have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh
things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
In one short verse, Jude used the word ungodly four times.
This repetition is not accidental. Jude was emphasizing the fact
that when Christ comes the second time, His long-suffering
patience will have run its course. He will come to impose
judgment upon those who have defied Him, and that judgment will
be massive. At this point the people on the earth will have
rejected the ministry of the 144,000 preachers and the two
witnesses that God sent to them for their salvation, just as the
prophet Jonah was sent to the Ninevites. In His loving mercy, God
endeavored to turn them away from their fatal rebellion. But
unlike the Ninevites, the people in the last days will have
hardened their hearts beyond repentance.
In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul wrote in
chilling terms of the judgment that will descend on these rebels:
The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty
angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know
God, and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He
comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be
admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among
you was believed. (1:7-10)
As we learned in the previous chapter, the armies of heaven
that accompany Christ in His second coming will be made up of
saints and angels - people like you and me standing side-by-side
with heavenly beings of immense power. These legions are dressed
not in military fatigues but in dazzling white. Yet they need not
worry about their pristine uniforms getting soiled because their
role is largely ceremonial and honorary; they will not fight.
Jesus Himself will slay the rebels with the deadly sword darting
out of His mouth.
The Authority of Christ
When the Lord returns to earth at the end of the
Tribulation, the men and nations who have defied Him will no more
be able to stand against Him than a spiderweb could stand against
an eagle. His victory will be assured and His authority
undisputed. Here is how John described the finality of His
judgment and the firmness of His rule: "And he Himself will rule
them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and
on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS"
(Revelation 19:15-16).
This grand title, King of kings and Lord of lords,
identifies our Lord at His second coming. It speaks of His
unassailable authority. At this name every king on earth will
bow, and every lord will kneel. Don't be confused about the sword
proceeding from Christ's mouth; it is not "the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). This is an
altogether different and fearful sword -the sword of judgment - a
sharp instrument of war with which Christ will smite the nations
into utter submission and establish His absolute rule.
When Christ returns the second time, He will finally fulfil
the prophecy of Isaiah that we often quote and hear choirs sing
to Handel's lofty music at Christmastime: "For unto us a Child is
born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His
shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). At
His first coming, Jesus fulfilled the first part of Isaiah's
prophecy, the heart-warming Christmas part. At His second coming,
He will fulfil the second part - the part that reveals His
iron-hard power and authority over all the nations. The
government of the world will at last be upon His shoulder!
The Avenging of Christ
The book of Revelation is divided into three sections. At
the beginning of the book we are introduced to the world ruined
by Man. As we move to the latter half of the Tribulation period,
we witness the world ruled by Satan. (Jeremiah is into teaching
you this first and latter half of the Tribulation, which to him
and his friends, is 7 years in length as we have seen. The book
of Revelation only gives 42 months, 1260 days, a time, times, and
half a time. You cannot find 7 years at all in the book of
Revelation. I guess not, because the 7 year stuff is taken from a
very terrible misunderstanding of Daniel's 70 week prophecy -
Keith Hunt).
But now as we come to Christ's return at the end of the
Tribulation period, we see the world reclaimed by Christ.
Reclaiming the earth, however, is not merely a simple matter of
Christ's stepping in and planting His flag. Before the earth can
be reclaimed, it must be cleansed. You wouldn't move back into a
house infested with rats without first exterminating and cleaning
it up. That is what Christ must do before He reclaims the earth.
All rebellion must be rooted out. He must avenge the damage done
to His perfect creation by wiping the rebels from the face of the
earth. The last verses of Revelation 19 give us an account of
this purging and cleansing, and each step in the process is a
dramatic story within itself. Let's briefly examine these
avenging acts that will cleanse and reclaim the earth.
The Fowls of Heaven
In the classic Alfred Hitchcock film "The Birds," a coastal
California town is terrorized by the escalating attacks of
vicious birds. Throughout the film the terror increases to the
point that birds merely sitting in rows on highline wires look
ominous and foreboding. Instead of closing the film with his
typical "The End," Hitchcock simply fades the screen to black,
leaving the viewer with a lingering sense of terror as he drives
from the theater and sees birds sitting on the high wires in his
neighborhood. As horrifying as that story is, it pales in
comparison to the grisly bird scene that John unveils.
Words are hardly adequate to describe the horror of this
appalling scene. The fowl of the earth's air all gather at
Armageddon to feast upon the massive piles of human flesh that
will litter the battlefield for miles upon miles. The word
translated fowl or birds is found only three times in the Bible:
twice here in Revelation 19 (verses 17 and 21), and once more in
Revelation 18:2. It is the Greek word "arnin," which designates a
scavenger bird that is best translated into English as vulture.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven,
"Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that
you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh
of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them,
and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and
great". . . And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
(Revelation 19:17-18, 21)
In John's vision the angel is calling the vultures of the
earth to Armageddon to "the supper of the Great God," where they
will feast on the fallen carcasses of the enemies of the Lord.
The text says that these corpses include both great and small,
kings and generals, bond and free. As Harry Ironside wrote, "It
is an awful picture - the climax of man's audacious resistance to
God.
The book of Revelation tells of another supper, one
altogether different from that of the vultures on the field of
Armageddon.
In Revelation 19:7 we read, "Let us be glad and rejoice and
give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His
wife has made herself ready." In verse 9, we read of the feast
that will follow the wedding: "Then he said to me, 'Write:
Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the
Lamb!'"
The marriage supper of the Lamb is a time of great joy,
celebrating the wedding between the bridegroom Christ and His
bride, the church. I am glad that I have a confirmed reservation
for the marriage supper of the Lamb where I will feast at the
table of heaven, for at the other supper - the supper of the
Great God on the fields of Armageddon the human participants will
be the food.
I pause here to ask a few important questions: Which supper
will you be attending? Have you made your reservation for the
marriage supper of the Lamb? Have you accepted the saving work of
the Lamb of God in your behalf? Have you confessed your sin and
surrendered your will to the authority of the Lamb? I sincerely
hope you have, for doing so secures your invitation to a
celebration you don't want to miss.
COMMENT:
Certainly, you do not want to miss the marriage supper of the
Lamb. But if you are looking to the Protestants for the correct
teaching not only on prophecy, but on "being saved" - "true
repentance" - "sin" - you are looking in the WRONG place. Though
they talk a lot about the "saving work of Christ" - about sin and
surrendering your will to the authority of the Lamb, they really
have very poor knowledge of what it all is. You do not have to be
in the dark concerning these basic truths of God and salvation,
for it is all in-depth explained on this Website - Keith Hunt.
......
Strangely, as W A. Criswell pointed out, as glorious as this
feast is, it is never described explicitly:
Concerning the marriage itself, is it not a strange
narrative that God should omit to describe it? Nothing is
said about it, no word is used to describe it. The Greek
word here says, "elthen [aorist], the marriage is come ..."
and that is all. Just the fact of it. John just hears the
Hallelujah chorus announcing it. He has a word to say about
the wife, the bride of Christ, who has made herself ready.
He describes the robe of our righteousness that shall be our
reward at the Bema of Christ. But He never recounts the
actual wedding itself. The event just happens and all heaven
bursts into Hallelujahs concerning it.
Yet in spite of the lack of description, John made it clear
that this feast will be glorious through a writer's technique
known as "indirection." When an event is too wonderful for words,
it is sometimes more effective to show the wonder through
reactions to the event rather than through the event itself.
Instead of describing the feast directly, John used the reactions
of others to show its character indirectly. Thus, we are told of
the glorious robe we'll wear, the loveliness of the bride, and
finally of the hallelujahs that will spring from heaven
expressing the pure joy of the occasion. Through these indirect
impressions we can see that the marriage supper will be a
celebration beyond anything we can imagine. I strongly urge you
to RSVP immediately.
The Foes of Heaven
"And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies,
gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse
and against His army" (Revelation 19:19).
Could there be anything more futile than creatures fighting
against their Creator? Than little men stuck on one tiny planet,
floating in the immeasurable cosmos, striking back at the Creator
of the universe? Yet futility is not beyond hearts turned away
from God. John warned that the beast and the false prophet will
persuade the armies of the earth to go to war against Christ and
the armies of heaven. It's like persuading mice to declare war
against lions. This final war will be the culmination of all of
the rebellion that men have levelled against Almighty God from
the
beginning of time! And there's not one iota of doubt about the
outcome.
The Fatality of the Beast and False Prophet
The Bible tells us that God simply snatches up the
Antichrist beast and the false prophet and flings them into the
fiery lake.
"Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who
worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who
received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his
image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning
with brimstone" (Revelation 19:20).
These two evil creatures have the unwanted honor of actually
getting to that awful place before Satan, whose confinement
occurs much later: "The devil, who deceived them, was cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet
are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever"
(Revelation 20:10). Satan does not join the beast and the false
prophet there until the end of the Millennium, one thousand years
later.
Once again I turn to Harry Ironside for an interesting
sidelight concerning the nature of the punishment these two men
experience:
"Note that two men, are taken alive ... These two men are
cast alive into [the lake burning with fire and brimstone]
where a thousand years later, they are still said to be
'suffering the vengeance of eternal fire' (Jude 7)."
COMMENT:
No! Again very misleading of "putting forth" the Scriptures to
you. If you have a good KJV you will notice the word "are" in the
passage quoted in Revelation is in "italics" - meaning it is NOT
in the Greek! The truth about DEATH is fully explained in the
study series called "Death - then What?" on this Website. The
beast and false prophet are NOT STILL suffering in anguish and
pain 1,000 years later when Satan is thrown into the fires of
hell - Keith Hunt.
......
He focuses our attention on two important truths from God's
Word; the men are alive when they arrive, and they are still
alive a thousand years later - and still experiencing suffering.
He draws a profound conclusion: "the lake of fire is neither
annihilation nor purgatorial because it neither annihilates nor
purifies these two fallen foes of God and man after a thousand
years under judgment."
COMMENT:
Not only misleading but in plain language a TWISTING of the
Scriptures. The Protestants still follow their Mother church,
Babylon/Rome, in still teaching the immortality of the soul, and
an ever burning hell-fire that keeps sinners in torment and pain
for all eternity. One of the most devilish doctrines of false
Christianity - Keith Hunt.
......
Hell has become an unpopular subject these days. As church
historian Martin Marty noted, "Hell disappeared. And no one
noticed." There have been many attempts of late to soften the
impact of this thoroughly biblical doctrine in favor of what C.
S. Lewis called a grandfatherly God of indulgent kindness who
would never consign anyone to hell, but says of anything we
happen to like doing, "What does it matter so long as they are
contended?"
As God's judgment in Revelation clearly shows, God is not
that soft. He intends to remake us in His own image, which is
often a painful and self-denying process. If we refuse to be
remade, we must endure the hellish consequence that choice
brings. As John's vision shows us, hell is frightfully real. And
it shows how deadly it is to be an enemy of the Almighty God. His
power is infinite, and His justice is certain. No rebellion can
stand against Him, and the consequences of such rebellion are
terrible and eternal.
COMMENT:
To be sure, God will consign those who will not accept His
salvation through Christ, to hell-fire - to death in fire. But
that death is death; it is not life but separated from God. It is
death - dead all over - it is not eternal life but out of God's
presence. Read Romans 6:23 and just BELIEVE it - the wages of
sin, what you earn by not repenting of sin, is DEATH, but the
gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE! The one is opposite to the other;
the one is as black as black can be and the other as white as
white can be. You need to study "Death - then What?" on this
Website - Keith Hunt.
......
The Finality of Christ's Victory over Rebellion
"And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the
mouth of Him who sat on the horse" (Revelation 19:21). Here is
how John F. Walvoord describes the victory:
When Christ returns at the end of the tribulation period,
the armies that have been fighting with each other for power
will have invaded the city of Jerusalem and will have been
engaged in house-to-house fighting. When the glory of the
second coming of Christ appears in the heavens, however,
these soldiers will forget their contest for power on earth
and will turn to fight the army from heaven (16:16; 19:19).
Yet their best efforts will be futile because Christ will
smite them with the sword in His mouth (19:15,21), and they
will all be killed, along with their horses.
Again we see the utter futility of fighting against God. Not
only will the leaders of the rebellion be flung into hell, but
also all the armies that joined them will be slaughtered by the
mighty strokes of Christ's deadly sword.
The Application of Christ's Second Coming
Throughout my years of ministry as a pastor and Bible
teacher, I have talked to more than a few pastors and Christian
leaders who expressed doubts concerning the relevance of Bible
prophecy. They usually say something like this: "I don't preach
on prophecy because it has nothing to do with the needs of my
people today. I try to preach on more relevant topics. I leave
prophecy to people like you, Dr. Jeremiah."
My response is that today there are few subjects more
relevant than biblical prophecy. In fact, as we move into times
that are so clearly depicted in the prophetic scriptures, some of
my critics are beginning to get questions from their own
congregants who are looking at today's headlines and asking,
"What in the world is going on?" When I preached to my own church
the messages that became the basis for this book, we recorded
some of the highest attendance figures in the history of our
congregation. I suspect that many had come to hear these messages
because they were not getting meaningful answers from their own
pastors. I cannot imagine being a pastor in today's cataclysmic
world and not using the Word of God to give people God's
perspective on world events......
COMMENT:
David Jeremiah then moves on to give some basic points for the
application of all Bible prophecy - what it should mean in your
life. Which is really the bottom line anyway (even without
knowing or studying Bible prophecy) of Christian living.
Not all true pastors of the sheep of God are "prophets" -
understanding Bible prophecy is one of the gifts of the Spirit.
You as a true Christian do not HAVE to know and understand Bible
prophecy. Even as a true pastor of the flock of God, you do not
have to know or expound Bible prophecy. SOME in the true Church
of God, WILL be given the insight to understand Bible prophecy.
Those thus given that gift will proclaim it to the world and
expound it to the Church. The role of "prophet" in the Church
today is probably going to be the knowledge and gift of
understanding correctly the prophetic Words of the Lord as given
in the Bible. And if that prophet speaks out to you about when
and when not the coming of the Lord will be; it will always be
correct. I have encountered some in the Church of God in the past
decades who told their readers, who put down in print, when they
expected the "great tribulation" to begin and hence the coming of
Christ. They were VERY WRONG!! Their date setting has come and
gone!! They have been proved to be no prophet from the Lord; they
have been false prophets!!
Do NOT put your trust in Protestant prophets - they are, the most
popular ones, VERY WRONG! They have no clear knowledge or
understanding of Bible prophecy. Do not let PhD before or after
their name awe you into a frozen mind-set, or shake before their
published books on prophecy. As the sometimes true in reality,
saying goes, "An EXPERT is: 'ex' is an unknown quantity, and
"spert" is a drip under pressure."
A few things the Protestant prophets do know: Europe will be the
end time Babylon/Roman Empire; there will come an antichrist and
a "beast man;" there will be a great tribulation; there will be a
battle of Armageddon; Jesus, with the saints and angels, will
come from the clouds to Jerusalem; Jesus and His army will defeat
those who come against Him; Jesus will be King and Lord over all
the earth; Jesus will establish the Kingdom of God on earth for
the first 1,000 years; Satan will be chained up during that 1,000
year period. JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE THEY MIX UP AND MESS UP
AND HAVE WRONG!
........................
Keith Hunt, October 2009
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