A People Prepared:
Making Ready for the Messiah, Part 2

The following paragraph was written in preparation for a speaking engagement on September 9, 2001.  "Do you realize that, in the midst of this global terror campaign, the ayatollahs, the imams, the sheiks and the clerics and their hordes of demonic destroyers are killing over 300,000 Believers every single year over all the world?  The chalice of martyrs’ blood is at the brim, for Apollyon’s hordes have been let loose on those who must endure until their end.  Messiah must soon come, for the whole earth has been mustered to the kind of war that’s never been experienced before."

This has become the "War on Terror"

What Everyone Should Know About the Roman and Hebrew Calendars
Sevenfold Prayer for the Millennium

Jackson Snyder Monthly Viewsletter

Lectors’ Prayer 2:  Praise to you, Yahweh Elohim, king of the universe, and all esteem to your name.  I praise you and thank you for calling me to proclaim your word to your beloved people.  Open the hearts of all who worship with us, so that they may hear your voice when I read.  Let nothing in my life or manner disturb your people or close their hearts to the action of your Spirit.  Cleanse my heart and mind, and open my lips so that I may proclaim your esteem.  All praise to you, heavenly Father, through the Sovereign Yahshua in the Set-apart Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

One of the Greatest Biblical Stories of Them All  TEVIT AND TEVYAH (The Book of Tobit)

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Mat 10:40. He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

Luke 1:8-17  Now while [Zechariah] was serving as priest before Yahweh when his division was on duty,  9.  according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of Yahweh and burn incense.  10.  And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.  11.  And there appeared to him an angel of Yahweh standing on the right side of the altar of incense.  12.  And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.  13.  But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.  14.  And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth; 15. for he will be great before Yahweh, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Set-apart Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.  16.  And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to Yahweh their Elohim,  17. and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for Yahweh a people prepared.” 

Revelation 16:15.  “Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake, keeping his garments that he may not go naked and be seen exposed!”

Revelation  20: 1.  THEN I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain.   2.  And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3. and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more.  4.  Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Yahshua and for the word of Elohim, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Messiah a thousand years.  6.  Blessed and set-apart is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of Elohim and of Messiah, and they shall reign with him a thousand years. 

THE MESSIANIC PROXIMITY 2 – THE FALSE PROPHET

   Now consider a new sign:  The Bible warns that in the centuries leading up to Messiah, there’ll be many antimessiahs and a particular false prophet that will lead many astray.  This movement away from true worship has been called “The Great Falling Away.”  Popular Bible teachers would have us to believe that the falling away is in the future.  But consider that what we know today as the Arab Block was the first great mission field for the first great missionaries, the Apostles. Historians concur that whole kingdoms in that region were converted to the Apostolic faith in the lifetimes of the Disciples.  Still today, in Syria, Iraq and Iran, there are assemblies of Believers who date their beginnings to the Apostles.  Even the set-apart book of Islam, the Koran, informs us that Thaddeus and Judas the brother of Yahshua evangelized from Damascus to beyond Babylon.  What happened afterward?  An antimessian false prophet arose to lead thousands astray by force.

   What makes a prophet an antimessiah? 

1 John 2:21.  I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and know that no lie is of the truth.  22.  Who is the liar but he who denies that Yahshua is the Messiah? This is the antimessiah, he who denies the Father and the Son.  23.  No one who denies the Son has the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also. 

The prophet Mohammad arose in the seventh century, preaching a very flattering message about Yahshua to Believers.  In his Koran, he affirmed that Issa (Yahshua) was born of a virgin to be a prophet in the footsteps of Moses; that Yahshua had the words of life, that he died and ascended, and that he would return in our age to judge.  Mohammad and the Koran are also very specific about the relationship between Allah and Issa – Elohim and Yahshua.  Mohammad said (and Muslims believe):

The Believers call Issa the son of Elohim. That is a saying from their mouth. They imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say.  Allah’s curse upon them (Sura at-taubah, 30).

     This saying proclaims that Islam denies the Father and Son, and that anyone who affirms the Son is cursed.  This qualifies Muhammad as a false prophet: “You’ve heard that antimessiah is coming.  This is antimessiah,” says John, “is he who denies the Father and the Son.  No one who denies the Son has the Father.”

   Indeed, Revelation tells us that the whole world will be stirred to war by the demonic hordes of a false prophet, and that the blood of the saints through the ages is upon his hands.  Regarding Believers and Jews, the false prophet has decreed,

Fight and slay the pagans (i.e. non-Muslims) wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait for them.  Fight those who believe not in Allah and his apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of truth [even the] people of the book [i.e. Jews and Believers], until they pay with willing submission, and feel themselves enslaved (Sura 9:29).

   Yahshua said that in the years preceding his return, there would be wars and rumors of wars in diverse places.  He said that

Matthew 24:9-13 “They will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. Many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another.  And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.  And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold.  But he who endures to the end will be saved.” 

Do you realize that, in the midst of this global terror campaign, the ayatollahs, the imams, the sheiks and the clerics and their hordes of demonic destroyers are killing over 300,000 Believers every single year over all the world?  The chalice of martyrs’ blood is at the brim, for Apollyon’s hordes have been let loose on those who must endure until their end.  Messiah must soon come, for the whole earth has been mustered to the kind of war that’s never been experienced before. 

THE SEVEN-FOLD MINISTRY OF PREPARATION, 2

   Unlike the dear martyrs that die all the day long for their faith, we’re the fortunate sons and daughters of Zion, hidden away in the wilderness of Revelation 12(:13-17) for a time – protected by the water of great oceans.  We’re here and safe because we have a very important mission to fulfill – to prepare the way for Yahshua Tsaviot – the Commander of Heavenly Armies.  He’s at the very door.  And he’s made us free to prepare.

   John the Baptist was charged with a mission: to prepare a people for Messiah with the words, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”  In these latter days, Yahweh is raising up a small but vocal John the Baptist movement to make preparation for the Son – a small flock, but an informed, sensitive, powerful and spiritual faction.  If we look at the John prophecy, we see in it a firm, supernatural plan for preparing ourselves, our own and our world, for the soon-coming King and his Millennial Rule.  In that prophetic word we find seven characteristics of a people prepared.  We reviewed three characteristics last time:

1) “John Will Be Great” – We Must Be a Great People 

   What makes a people great?  Greatness is often equated with wealth or fame.  But the best meaning of “great” for us is just plain old “big” – a people are great if their hopes, dreams and faith are big.  We learned that we’re in the human resources business.  We make disciples who are prepared.  But we’re also in the spiritual resources business.  Our greatness goes beyond that of those antimessiahs who carry bombs and machine guns, “for the weapons of our warfare aren’t carnal but they’re mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.”  If we could only be a great, magnanimous and wider-visioned people, a spiritually gifted and active people, a more compassionate people, we could defeat any bloody enemy with the sword of His mouths and all prayer.  If we want to be great, we can.  We just must decide that’s what we want and go for greatness.  The sky’s not the limit when you have an invincible faith and an almighty El.  Shall we be great in the eyes of Yahweh (John 1:15) and be called the children of the Most High?  Yes, if we will, we shall!

2) “John Shall Drink No Wine” – We Must Be a Serious (Sober) People

   ¿What does our mission have to do with drinking?  I mentioned that “he shall not drink” is a technical phrase meaning that John discarded his rightful place as a priest in the great temple, which was his inheritance.  He chose instead to receive the inheritance of his Heavenly Father – a bed of skins in an arid desert, a plate full of bugs – and an exciting and dangerous mission: preparing a people for the advent of the greatest person “who ever lives to make intercession for you.”  With a sober determination and a calculated choice, John passed up that which was convenient and profitable for a Kingdom he couldn’t even see – the Kingdom of Heaven that came in his day as it’s coming again in ours – in the person of Messiah.  We must be serious about our mission.

3) “John Will Be Filled With The Set-apart Spirit” – We’re to Be a Spirit-filled People

   John the Baptist, the Forerunner, attested, “I have baptized you with water but he will baptize you with the Set-apart Spirit and fire.”  And the Risen Yahshua reiterates this same message to his disciples at the time of his ascension:

Acts 1:4,5.  Yahshua charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Set-apart Spirit.” 

We’re to be a spirit-filled people ¿but how can we be unless we’ve experienced the deep move of Yahweh inside?  When the Set-apart Spirit descended on the men, women and children in the upper room on this Pentecost day in Christian year 33, the Jewish year 3793 and the Hebraic year 4033, those awaiting him were not disappoint when he arrived!  Hardly!  There was a rushing wind, flames of fire, tongues of the nations, inspired speaking and a condition that appeared as drunkenness.  My friend, if you’re spirit-filled and baptized in the fire, you know it.  There’s evidence of it in you.  Boldness!  Authority!  Fruits!  Gifts!  Discernment!  And a deep, deep inner witness and love for the Baptizer.  In times like these, you must be baptized in the Set-apart Spirit in similar fashion as they were in the upper room at Pentecost.  Ask, then tarry in his presence until you receive the empowerment that he will love to give you.

4) “He Will Turn Many To Yahweh” – We Must Likewise Be an Evangelical People

   The work of evangelization is the work of reconciliation – bringing together elohim and human – and human and human.  The goal of the entire endeavor of preparing a people for Yahweh is atonement and unity – not the kind of strained unity achieved by church councils and conferences, where liberal and conservatives find enough common ground to protect their financial and intellectual investment.  No, this is theocratic unity – we subordinate our wishes to Yahweh and his Law for His purposes; and we teach others to do likewise so that when Yahshua comes out of hiding in a couple months, he’ll find faith – a people prepared!  A people at one.  A people who are veterans in fighting the spiritual battle against all forces that destroy peace.  And a generation of spirit-filled young children to carry on.

   John was baptizing out at Bethany Beyond Jordan – that’s on the West Bank outside Judea in Perea – well out in the country but still in Herod Antipas’ domain.  When things get really hot, John moves to Aenon in the Decapolis, out of the reach of the authorities, the happy home for millions of contented swine.  These were god-forsaken locations for setting up a new ministry.  ¿Couldn’t he have planned a better location?  ¿Shouldn’t he have gone to Detroit if he wanted a bunch of hyper-emotional converts?  No.  He chose desolate places where Yahweh sent him.  Yet in each place was found the quickening water of the Jordan.  And the people came out to him in mass – from everywhere.  That’s because John had something worth coming out for.

   Those were the days, my friend.  In our land of plenty, in our rich churches, in our metropolitan communities, there’s too much competition for the mind and body.  Too many ball games.  Too many great TV specials.  Too many so-called spirit-filled churches where entertainment is king.  Too many hospitals – the center of entertainment for many.  Too many substitutes for the real thing.  Too many replacements for that inner void.  Too many foul spirits to fill in where they have no business.  Oh, if we were an impoverished people – if we were given the gift of paucity – if our community was afflicted with penury – if we found ourselves suddenly in poverty, then they’d come out, come out of Babylon to where there’s living water.  Because we live in the golden age of our society, our task of evangelization is made all the more difficult. 

   But people may still come out to see a miracle.  This fellowship has the makings of a miracle ministry if somebody will get excited.  That’s another characteristic of John’s prophetic ministry.

5) “John Will Go In The Power Of Elijah” – We Can Be a Powerful People

   Yahshua proclaimed John the Elijah of his day.  The first Elijah worked during the reign of King Ahab, who mixed the worship of Yahweh with that of Asherah and Baal.  Ahab made a graven image of Yahweh in the form of a golden calf; then he married Yahweh off to Asherah, the Christmas Tree.  Read about it in 1 Kings 16:30ff.  Jezebel came along from Sidonia and brought her own goddesses and priests.  Ahab proclaimed that Yahweh and Baal were the same god – a “god of many names” – married to Asherah, the Christmas Tree.  The name “Jezebel” means, “Yahweh is Baal.”  Obviously, Elijah had to minister the true word in quite a lonely fashion within a perverse but so-called “inclusive” environment of exciting worship services and religious celebrities.  As a lone voice in the wilderness of sin, he challenged the absurdity of these pontifical pronouncements and took on the ecclesiastical and political establishment of his day.  You know his story.  Elijah won great victories, but ended up in the fetal position of fear in the belly of a dank cave.

   John also took on the Ahab and Jezebel of his day – King Herod and Queen Herodias.  Herodias had been married to Herod’s brother Philip, but now Herod had her.  This was a blatant break with the Law that Herod himself had established.  He put himself above his law and above that of Yahweh, and John denounced him publicly as a profaner of true worship and an impostor.  John was not only a religious giant, but a political challenger.

   Elijah was known for his overt miracles.  When he mastered the prophets of Baal, fire flew from heaven.  On the other hand, John wasn’t a miracle worker in that sense.  He had a different gift.  He was able to persuade people of every stripe to repent and believe – an Elijah-type performing internal miracles. 

   Elijah went off with Yahweh.  John died.  Power has a different meaning in our dispensation than in that of Law.  Power today means internal fortitude – spiritual authority – supernatural ability.  And for us, such power comes only through our own surrender.  For even when we’re at ebb, Yahweh’s at high tide.  We are a people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand; and through his hand, we are a powerful, miracle-working people no matter what our physical state.  

6) “John Will Turn The Hearts Of The Fathers to the Children” – People Will Expect More From Us

   I heard a psychologist recently say that the most valuable three words she can offer some patients are: “Get over it!”  She said, “You’d be amazed how that works when spoken with authority.  Some even return to me totally changed.”  This psychologist hands over her authority to the powerless patient.  So through an objective strength and strong permission, she’s empowered the weak.  People should come to expect that same from every spirit-filled believer – a sharing of power.

   In a very mystical way, Yahshua did the same thing with his disciples as the culmination of their formal education:

John 20:21-23.  Yahshua said, “Be at peace.  As the Father has sent me, I send you.”  He breathed on them, and said, “Receive the Set-apart Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain them, they are retained.”

To fulfill this kind of awesome responsibility, these boys and girls had to “forget about themselves, concentrate on him and worship him.”  His concerns became theirs.  His responsibility became theirs.  His authority was dispensed with his permission to use that authority. 

   To forgive sins was thought to be the auspices of Elohim only.  Imagine the burden of this kind of empowerment – and the illegality – the risk.  No matter their personal idiosyncrasies, hindrances, baggages, oppressions, in light of the universal message of eternal salvation, they just had to get beyond themselves.  They had to “get over it” so that they could get on to their mission.

   I think of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate.  Scripture says that when Peter and John came past, he looked at them with expectation of receiving.  And receive he did – but he didn’t get the crumb he expected, he received much, much more.  Likewise, you and I, by the virtue of being together in this place, receiving the word and sacrament, and going forth to serve, are labeled.  We are a people called by the title of Yahshua.  Everybody knows who you represent and what kind of person you claim to be simply because you sit in this place.  As a Believer, you owe everybody a little something of you.  Maybe it’s time for you to get beyond whatever keeps you from being the fervent personal witness that forgives and retains sins.  People are looking up to us, expecting something.  We should give them far more than they expect.  We must give our petty problem and fleshly thorns over to him and get on with our business of preparing the way.

7) “John Will Turn The Disobedient” – Finally, We Must Be a People of Righteous Judgment

   When Yahshua spoke to the unconverted masses, he said, “Judge not lest ye be judged” (Matthew 7:1).  But when he spoke to the religious, he said, “Judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24).  The ability to forgive and retain sins is based on right judgment because the confessor becomes an advocate between the sinner and the perfect Father in heaven. 

   Paul interprets judgment in an even more assertive way –

Ephesians 5:11-17 (excerpts).  Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  When anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.  Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.  Do not be foolish, but understand the will of Yahweh. 

We must be judgmental and judge, exposing evil at every turn.  However, in order to do this, we must first understand the will of the Most High.

   In 2004 or 6004 by the Hebraic reckoning, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church took place in Pittsburgh.  On the agenda was yet another bill to alter church law to include homosexuality as compatible with Christian teaching, and thus vindicate bishops of the church who appoint self-avowed, practicing homosexuals to the clergy, and clergy people who perform same-sex marriages.  The constitutional change was again avoided, but by a small margin.  Later in the Conference, five hundred members of a homosexual advocacy group marched into the Conference hall and disrupted the proceedings for twenty minutes. 500 marched in!  No authority in that Christian body said a word – on the contrary, the bishop-in-charge thanked the demonstrators as they exited.

   Overt homosexuality in the pulpit may or may not be compatible with Christian teaching – that depends on the vote.  Overt homosexuality in the pulpit is definitely incompatible with the Bible, which should be the standard of morality rather than “Christian teaching.”  Those same ones who so vocally affirm the letter of the Ten Commandments, who so vocally disdain the practices of corrupt bishops and perverse clergy persons, these same are silent when right judgment is required.

The Millennium Mission

   We are to be a people who know right from wrong.  My friend, if you stay the course and endure until the end, ¿don’t you know that you’ll judge angels?  We must put our minds to the Law of Yahweh and learn of our mission when Yahshua makes his public appearance.  Some here will be judges in that great Millennium, others, legislatures.  Some will be teachers and preachers, lawyers and advocates, administrators and theologians.  Some will be the parents and others will be children.  It will be a great day, and it’s coming soon, for if he’s not stolen in like a thief already, he’s even at the door.

   Are you a people preparing?  A great and serious people?  A spirit-filled and evangelical people?  A powerful people able to bestow miraculous gifts?  A people of righteous judgment?  Are we a people prepared?  Say, yes. Yes!  Yes!

He’s coming in power!  We’ll hail the blessed hour!  We shall see the King when he comes!

LITANY:  THE SEVENFOLD PRAYER FOR THE MILLENNIUM

Pray for:

The Parousia of Yahshua

The Return of Torah

All Saints and Martyrs

Peace in Jerusalem

The Nations of the Earth

Equitable Justice for All Creation

The Kingdom Manifest on Earth

 Jackson Snyder, May 26, 2005

A REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS INSTALLMENT

   Believers of all ages since the first have understood their generation to be the last before the return of Yahweh to rule over the united earth.  Consider the words of John in his first letter:

1 John 2:18.  Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antimessiah is coming, so now many antimessiahs have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour.

In the previous installment of this message, we pointed out that it’s been the last hour all this time, through the lives of countless generations.  But in the past, the biblical signs of the “last hour” have been missing – especially two of the prophetic oracles of Yahshua regarding his return; they are, the “signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3) and the completion of the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24).  In our day, the signs have been posted and are clearly read – with a few coming to the conclusion that Yahshua could really, really be “at the door” in our day – maybe even through the door. 

   We outlined that, like the seven-day creation, salvation history in the Bible consists of seven prophetic days of a thousand years each.  The Bible deals only with these seven thousand years, no more, no less.  We believe that the 7^th thousand year stretch is the Millennium mentioned in Revelation 20:4, in which Yahshua will return to reign for that last thousand years before turning a recreated earth back to his Father.  We discovered that, according to the Hebraic calendar, a little more than 6000 years have passed from Adam unto today, which places us in time at the beginning of this seventh and final thousand-year period. 

   We discovered a fulfilled prophecy of Yahshua in Luke 21:24 that we can actually date – the year that the Gentiles lost rule of Jerusalem.  That didn’t happen until after the Six Day War in 1967.  Who would’ve thought Yahshua could have predicted an event so far into the future?  It’s a sign that’s absolutely undeniable.  Yahshua promised that the people who lived at the fulfillment of the “Times of the Gentiles” – in 1967 – would also live to “see it all,” speaking of the circumstances surrounding his return to earth to rule and reign. 

“They came to life,” says the prophet (Revelation 20:5,6),  “and reigned with Messiah a thousand years.  Blessed and set-apart is the person who shares in the first resurrection!”  Amein.

   A prophetic generation is 40 years in length, which, if added to the restoration of Jerusalem in 1967, gives us a possible target date of 2007 for the advent of the New Messiah, give or take a half-dozen years.  My absurd conclusion – based on the Hebraic Calendar, the liberation of Jerusalem and the 40-year generation – is that we could be living right now in the Millennium prophesied in Revelation 20:4 – at the very “event horizon” of forever.  The rhetorical question was asked, “So, Snyder, if we’re living 6007 years from Adam, at the beginning of the seventh and last day of salvation history, in the Millennium, then where IS the Messiah?  Show him to me!  Shouldn’t he be flying in with the angels and saints of all ages to gather us home?”   Well, I ask you, dare you consider the possibility that Yahshua may have already returned?

   How can that possibly be?  Well, didn’t Yahshua say numerous times both in the flesh and as the Risen Savior that he’d return as a thief in the night?  And didn’t Paul, Peter and John use the same metaphor over and over – that if a person were aware that the thief would steal in at a certain hour, the householder would be prepared to catch him?  And didn’t the angel tell his few disciples that the way he ascended will be the way he’ll return – to just a few witnesses?  That he was preparing a little flock for his coming, a flock waiting in expectation and faith?  And mightn’t we be better to refrain from asking, “Where IS he?” and ask instead, “Where am I?  Am I alive?  Am I prepared?  Is my mind open?  Can I hear what the spirit is saying to the assembly?”

   One important conclusion:  we mustn’t overlook the obvious.  Yahshua didn’t mean for the signs of his return to be difficult to decipher.  What could be easier than looking at a given date then adding a generation?  Despite whether you’ve followed my reasoning in this short review or not, whether you believe it or not, it’s still our sworn duty as the seeing generation to be alert, watchful and keep our clothes on so that we might not be ashamed.