The Seeing Generation:
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William Blake (1757-1827) edited jhs 2009 To the tune “Jerusalem” And
did those feet on ancient dates |
O Day of Peace
Carl P. Daw, Jr. (b. 1944)
edited
jhs 2009
O day of peace that dimly
shines Through all our hopes and
prayers and dreams, Guide us to justice, truth,
and love, Delivered from our selfish
schemes. May swords of hate fall from
our hands, Our hearts from envy find
release, Till by His grace our
warring world
Will see
Messiah's reign of peace.
Then will the wolf dwell
with the lamb, Nor will the fierce devour
the small; As beasts and cattle safely
graze, A little child will lead
them all. Then enemies will learn to
love, All life receive its true
acclaim; The hope of peace will be
fulfilled, When all the world has learned
His Name. |
They who
know your name
will put their trust in you; for you,
Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek
you. (Ps 9:10)
Pour out your
wrath on the heathen who do not know you,
and
upon the kingdoms that do not call upon your name.
(Ps 79:6)
So they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh,
are the Most High over all the earth. (Ps 83:18)
Luke
21:10,11. Then Yahshua
said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom; 11. there will be great earthquakes, and in various places
famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”
Luke
1:15 For he will be great before Yahweh, and wine and strong
drink he will by no means drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit
even from his mother’s womb; 16 and many of
the sons of Israel will he turn to Yahweh their Elohim; 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of
Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to children, and the disobedient to the
wisdom of the just, to make ready for Yahweh a people prepared.
2 Kings
24:11. And
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging
it; 12. and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of
Babylon, himself, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his
palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of
his reign, 13. and carried off all the treasures of the
house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all
the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had
made, as Yahweh had foretold. 14. He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the
princes, and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the
craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest people of the
land. 15. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; the king’s mother, the
king’s wives, his officials, and the chief men of the land, he took into
captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
16. And the king of Babylon
brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, seven thousand, and the
craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for
war. 17. And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king
in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
Psalms 152, A
Psalm of David (Orthodox Canon) 1. Eli! Eli!
O help me! Aid me! Rescue me!
Save me from these assassins!
Will I fall down to Sheol because of the lion’s mouth, or will the
monster merely maim me? 3. Is it not
enough that they feast on father’s flocks?
They crave my flesh as well! 4.
O Yah, spare me! Deliver your holy one
from destruction so he can yet praise you all his days and glorify your
magnificent name. 5. When you have saved him from the mouths of
vicious wolves, when you have rescued him from the maws of
beasts, he will magnify you. 6. Quickly, Master, send the Redeemer to raise
me up from this gaping pit, which yearns to enclose me in its black
depths. (JSB)
Revelation 1:19. “Write therefore the things that thou sawest, and the things that are, and those that will be after.”
Review Previous
installments:
1
2
3
4
This is the fifth in the series of messages I call “The Seeing Generation”;
that is, the generation that would “not pass away
till all has taken place” (Luke 21:32).
In the third and fourth installments, I outlined the Bible plan for how
members of the seeing generation are to conduct their lives.
In the second installment, I showed you, if there were a
false prophet or antichrist preaching in our generation, just exactly who that
might be.
In the first installment, I outlined two of the greatest
Biblical prophecies that’ve come to pass in our lifetimes, showing you just how
we are to Yahshua’s Millennial rule.
(If you’d like a review of the last four installments, you
may have a tape or transcript.) But the most important point of all, you may
remember, is that six thousand years has passed, and that we’ve counted these
years, and that the “seventh prophetic day” is now upon us. The seventh day is the Millennium of
peace. We should keep this fact in mind
and stay awake and in the light.
In this and future installments, I’ll call your attention to Bible
prophecies that may have been fulfilled in our lifetime – or may be just
coincidences. My hope is to convince
you to walk the walk of the Millennium now, whether you perceive the new thing
it or not (Isaiah 42:8). (This evening we’ll identify the
beasts of Revelation 13, and next week we’ll look at some more prophetic
coincidences.)
Wars
But now, turn to:
Luke
21:10,11. Then Yahshua said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom; 11. there will be great earthquakes, and in various places
famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”
The Messiah predicts a
multiplicity of wars, earthquakes, famines, diseases and terrors coming out of
the skies, with great signs. Let’s take
the first sign – wars – and reconsider what the seeing generation has
experienced.
There’s never been a century like the 20th. At its beginning, the 20th was
hailed as “the Christian Century” – the century in which biblical values would
surely penetrate the political establishments of the world, and through
reasoned conversation, all war might cease; that peace would arise through the
efforts of dedicated individuals, and that all powers might
conscientiously decide to
“beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: that nation will not lift up
sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.” (Isaiah
2:4,5).
But despite all good intentions, it was the bloodiest of the
nineteen previous centuries put together.
All the nations rose up for world war that yet continues in our
day. In World Wars I & II alone,
there were over 70 million casualties among armed forces. This figure doesn't include civilians, such
as death camp victims, nor those who died from any of the myriad regional wars
in between,[i]
nor those who succumbed to disease, starvation or the natural deprivations of
war. Over 70 million soldiers dead!
The casualty count in twentieth century wars is greater than
half the population of the earth on the day Yahshua predicted war.
Though wars have been waged since people lived in caves, there’s not
been a bloodier century than that which was deemed “the Christian
Century,”
Revelation 14:20. And blood came
out of the winepress, even unto the horse’s bridles.
The Sixth Trumpet
Next, consider the word of the sixth angel:
Revelation 9 (excerpts) 13.
He/she blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the … golden altar before Yahweh, 14.
saying to the sixth angel …, “Release the four angels who are bound at
the great river Euphrates.” 15. So the four angels were released, who had
been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a
third of mankind. (How so? How
might a third of mankind be killed?)
16. The … troops of cavalry was
twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. (That represents
200 million troops of cavalry. The
consequences?) 18. … a third of mankind was killed, by fire, smoke and
sulphur …. (That’s
what we call gunpowder. And what of the
survivors?) 20. The rest … did not repent … nor give up
worshiping demons … 21. nor … repent of
their murders, sorceries, immorality or thefts. (Ellipses {…} are for brevity of
speaking. Please study the entire
passage.)
Again, the number of troops counted by the Revelator was equal
to the entire population of the earth in the first century; world population
then was a little more that two hundred million. John envisioned a time far into the
future, a time like ours, when 33 times that number of people dwell –
almost 6.5 billion.
Think.
Seventy million uniformed
casualties in the world wars of the twentieth century is exactly one
third of all mankind in John’s day.
“Kill a third of mankind,” the angel of destruction commanded! Yet no one in this “Christian Century” repented,
despite the great signs of bombs falling from the skies – and life goes on
today with nearly 100 wars being waged in diverse places, and 25 nations
seeking weapons of mass destruction. In
fact, everyone is at war with a common and very demonic enemy – a worldwide
terror network, that’s homicidal adherents follow the false prophet of
Revelation 16:13.
Hello,
There were 19 major armed conflicts in 2003. See
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute “Yearbook 2004, Armaments,
Disarmament and International Security,” page 10, 2004
http://editors.sipri.se/pubs/yb04/pr04.pdf
Of course there are many more small conflicts
raging around the world. The above document is a good resource. Good luck!
Gilda Wheeler, Program Director
Facing the Future: People and the Planet
811 First Avenue, Suite 454, Seattle, WA 98104
ph 206.264.1503 fax 206.264.1506
global issues education and action opportunities
to shape our future
Are the predictions of the Bible about a warmongering world coincidental to our world, or is Yahshua Messiah drawing near, even entering through the gates? (See my essay, This Means War! in Revelation Uncloaked,1999) We pray with the prophet, “Maran atha! Our Master is coming soon to bring peace and equitable justice!” Hallelujah! Amen.
Euphrates (For fun, see “Predictions
of the Apocalypse,” The Beacon Journal)
Now the United States and a small coalition of other powers are
fighting the terror network in Iraq.
Iraq and its mighty river Euphrates figures very prominently in
end-times prophecy. We find the sixth
angel of the Revelation standing over the Euphrates river during the uncertain
days of world war. The Revelator
relates:
Revelation 16:12. The sixth angel
poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to
prepare the way for the kings from the east.
Before the angel pours his
“bowl of dryness,” he/she/it declares, “Release the four
angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates” (Revelation
9:14). These four angels wreak havoc on the earth and stir up nations to
fight. They’re either going forth in
our day, or this is another great coincidence.
The Euphrates River runs through modern-day Iraq, and has been
“dried up” many times over the centuries to let armies through; and armies are
crossing the Euphrates right now – a sign of the times. In 2003, I watched the troops cross the
Euphrates on their way to Baghdad from east to west, crowned ambassadors of war
send from the Kings of the East. American
soldiers, and not a few.
Let me offer you a journal entry
written by
Capt. Eric
Lombardini, who served on the front lines of the advance toward
Baghdad. He’s inside the dry bed
of the Euphrates River with his military unit.
In his journal, he refers to the
Ziggurat of Ur,
modeled after the Tower of Babel (Genesis 10:8-10). I might
add that Ur is the place from which Abraham sojourned (Genesis
11:31). Captain Lombardini is right there – and writes:
I am located
just next to the Ziggurat of Ur, a structure built 2,300 years before the birth
of Christ. [It’s] Daunting to see this massive pyramid, which can only evoke
awe. In its shadow are the foundation
of a palace and a huge necropolis … a city dedicated to the dead. And as you walk through its cavernous length,
you look down at the bones and shards of pottery sticking out through the sand. The Euphrates had once flowed over this
area, but the passing millennia changed its course, leaving only evidence of
its waters in the shells which stud the ground, acting as … jewelry to the …
dead.
This journal entry reminded me again of the prophetic word of
Yahweh spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 51:35-37
(excerpts). Thus says Yahweh: “… I will dry up her
sea and make her fountain dry; and Babylon will become a heap of ruins, the
haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing …”
Captain Lombardini and his
coalition traversed across the dried up Euphrates, past the pyramid of the moon
goddess, on the way to tear down the Babylon of old, so ordered by the Kings of
the earth. O! What a coincidence this is!
Babylon 1
Babylon was the ancient foe of the whole biblical world; we read
about her king, Nebuchadnezzar, and his conquest of Judea starting
at 2 Kings 24. Nebuchadnezzar carried off all the
economically viable people, killing the nobility and leaving the common rabble
behind. About 600 years before Messiah,
Yahweh was doing a great deal of speaking through his prophets, predicting
Babylon’s great fall. Isaiah was of that
seeing generation. Consider his
dramatic prophecy from:
Isaiah 21:8.
He who saw cried: “Upon a watchtower I stand, O
Yahweh, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights. 9.
And, behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!” And [Yahweh]
answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and
all the images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.”
Jeremiah was also in that seeing generation, crying,
Jeremiah 51:47. “Behold, the
days are coming when I will punish the images of Babylon; her whole land will
be put to shame, and all her slain will fall in the midst of her. 48. Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them,
will sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers will come against them out
of the north, says Yahweh.
49. Babylon
must fall for the slain of Israel, as for Babylon have fallen the slain
of all the earth.”
The fall of Babylon never fully came to pass. The prophet of the New Testament, John the
Divine, knows this: for, if we take him literally, he
predicts Babylon’s fall as a future occurrence:
Revelation 14:6. Then I saw [an] angel flying in midheaven, with an
eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and
tribe and tongue and people; 7. and he said with
a loud voice, “Fear Yahweh and give him
glory, for the hour of his judgment has come …” 8. A second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all
nations drink the wine of her impure passion.”
During the course of salvation history, false worship and
anti-Yahwist practices originated in Babylon and were perpetrated there
for the last six thousand years. And
Babylonish practices are still common in the Christian Church today – too many
to cite here. If there was any doubt
about when Babylon was to fall, there’s no doubt now. At least one Babylon has fallen and is being rebuilt – that
Babylon is Iraq. What a prophetic
coincidence!
Babylon 2
But there’s another, far newer Babylon that recently fell, and
the fall of the new was instrumental in the felling of the ancient Babylon. Consider three clips of prophecy:
Isaiah 13:19-22. And Babylon, the
glory of kingdoms … will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when Elohim overthrew them. … Wild beasts will lie down there, and its
houses will be full of howling creatures ….
Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces.
We remember that Sodom was
destroyed for the wickedness of its governors by fire that fell from
heaven. The seeing generation
has witnessed fire fall upon Babylon.
Hyenas are crying from the shattered palaces; many houses are full of
howling creatures, human and otherwise.
The fall of Babylon will mark a new day for the people of Israel
– people who’ve continually been threatened by Babylonian kings. Isaiah goes on to speak of them:
Isaiah 30:19-25
(excerpts). O
people in Zion … you will weep no more.
[Yahweh] will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when
he hears it, he will answer you. … Your
ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”
… In that day your cattle … will eat salted
hay … And upon every … hill there
will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when
the towers fall.
Did you notice how this
wonderful word took a 180-degree turn at the end? All will prosper, says the prophet, when the towers of
Babylon fall.
One website is devoted to letting young people write up their
remembrances of 9-11.
A young lady wrote:
“I was
still a grade 11 student …. Many of us had no idea what had happened until …
the principal came onto the PA …. The
principal told everyone to … listen carefully. He says, “People have been going
home due to what has happened … today.
Please note that if you leave school grounds, you will be suspended ….”
Everyone was asking the teacher what [the principal was] talking about, and she
suddenly replied, ‘Apparently terrorists flew planes into the World Trade
Center and Pentagon.’ … At first people
were like, ‘What is the World Trade Center?’ and then she replied with the 3
words that still ring in my head to this day – [she said] ‘The Twin Towers.’”
Yes, when we hear the word “fall” in Bible prophecy, our minds
automatically fall upon Babylon, especially through the Jeremiads;
Jeremiah likewise prophesied the word of Yahweh, that:
Jeremiah
51:49. Babylon
must fall …. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she
should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come …
upon her, says Yahweh.
Like the eleventh grader, when we think of the heights of
Babylon and their falling, we remember 9-11 – the falling of great towers and
the thousands of casualties from among all the peoples of earth, may they rest
in peace. We still know very little
about “The World Trade Center” – but a lot about “The Twin Towers.”
Two Babylons Fallen!
A local fellow came to the parsonage this week, and he began to
talk about the World Trade Center – it’s function in the buying and selling of
world goods. “Babylon is fallen,” he
said. “That’s in Revelations.” I corrected him, “You mean Revelation, not
Revelations.” “Yeah,” he said. “But Babylon’s all about
merchandising.” I replied, “That’s right. Let’s find the passage you quoted.” Then we got on the computer Bible and
brought up Revelation 18.
Revelation 18:2. And [an angel] called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen,
fallen is Babylon the great! It has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt
of every foul spirit, of every foul and hateful bird. 4. Then I heard another
voice … saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins,
8. so will her plagues come in a
single day, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned
with fire; for mighty is Yahweh Elohim who judges her.” 11. And
the merchants of the earth weep … for her, since no one buys their cargo …
12. … of gold, silver, jewels and
pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, …
ivory, … costly wood, bronze, iron and marble,
13. cinnamon, spice, incense,
myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses
and chariots, and … human souls.
15. The merchants … who gained
wealth from her, will stand far off …, weeping and mourning aloud, [saying] 17. “In one hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”
Of course, this fellow and me thought of similarities between
this falling Babylon and the World Trade Center catastrophe. This Babylon of scripture is all about high
towers and trade agreements. And when
its towers fell, who was most distressed?
Why, merchants, of course.
What
offices were in the World Trade Center?
There were hundreds of merchants offices, what do you suppose? Gold, silver,
jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, scented wood, ivory, costly
wood, bronze, iron, marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense,
wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots – and human
souls.
What an incredible coincidence?
The literal and the figurative Babylons both falling within a couple
years – connected in our minds with history – and closely related
to predictions made thousands of years ago about the return of Yahshua Messiah,
King of Kings. I wonder, what
coincidence will next occur? What
serendipitous scenario will next unfold?
“Nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom; there will be great
earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be
terrors and great signs from heaven.”
In this generation of daily catastrophe and hourly miracle, is
it so hard to believe that your Savior is near? No it’s not. What’s hard
to believe is that so many simply say, “What a coincidence,” then go about
their business; their business of –
Matthew 24:38-44 (excerpts) eating, drinking, marrying until the flood came, and took them all away; so will also the coming of the Son of man be. Two will be in the field; one will be taken away, the other left. Two will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken away, the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, if the good man had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched. Therefore be ye also ready.
Burden for Babylon: Isaiah 13 & 14 in verse
I. YeshaYahu 13
On the hilltop, raise a signal, cry aloud; O, cry aloud!
Wave the hand for them to enter those great gateways of the proud.
I myself, I commanded all my Consecrated Clans;
I have summoned mighty forces to execute my plans.
Hear the shofar on the hilltop? Hear the loud, vast multitude?
Hear the uproar of the kingdoms; hear their forces on the move?
Yah of hosts is drafting armies from prophetic, distant lands,
From the ends of these great heavens, weapons in their hands.
Wait, Chaldea; wait Basorah; for the day of YAH has come
With destruction, occupation, flags and fury, fife and drum.
All the forces of the future I will use to punish you.
Are you haughty? Are you ruthless? Haughty? Ruthless? I AM too.
Next the Persians, in their boasting, I will call into the fray.
They are heartless; seized by demons; without mercy or delay.
Not a shepherd, not a migrant will take refuge – but the owl.
Owls and satyr, foul hyenas, and the jackals – how they howl!
CODA:
So Babylon the glorious, splendiferous and crowned
Is now like Sodom and Gomorra since El burned them down.
The time, no longer close at hand, the time has long since passed,
And yet another Word fulfilled; fulfilled, Tzedekah, at last.
II. YeshaYahu 14
Yahweh has had great compassion on Zion;
He chose Israel and set her in her land.
Even aliens and strangers will cleave to Bet Yaakov
And the people who dwell there will lend her the hand.
Yahweh will rest you from all of your turmoil;
He’s healed the pain from all your grievous work.
Then they will take up the song of the King of Babylonia:
O how you have fallen from the heights unto the earth.
Is this the fellow who made nations tremble?
Is this the fellow who shook our precious homeland?
Is this the devil who massacred our children?
Is this the satan that turned out seas to sand?
Yahweh prepared for this slaughter of the children;
Udai and Kusai; upon the reddened ground.
O, Son of Dawn, you have laid your people low,
Hanged with a hemp by the neck then cut down.
Yahweh prepared great successors for your palace:
Sir Hedgehog will lead from the Throne of Swimming Pool.
Yah will divide Babylon till the name is abhorred;
Once forgotten, no posterity or remnant for Abdul.
Babylon Markers: Besides those set forth in Sestains of Destiny, check these.
Jeremiah 50, Gulf War One
50:1 The battlefield is identified and localized.
50:6,7 The justification for invasion – ‘They have sinned against Yahweh.’
50:9,10 A great coalition of nations from the North invading the South.
50:30-32 youth falling in urban environs, the day of visitation
50:33-40 The nature of the leadership of Iraq / Chaldea, and their idolatry – they are MAD over idolotrous practices.
50:41 The Great nation, the expansive coalition, the renown leaders from the North. Shock and awe.
Jeremiah 51, Gulf War Two
51:1-4 Yahweh sends foreigners to winnow Babylon. It will be an urban war. There is a recompense due on account of the Qadosh One.
51:5-8 Babylon a ‘golden cup’ (a damascus of sorts) – flee back home.
51:11-14 The stirring of Iran (Medes); the promise to fill her with men.
51:20-28 The “with you” passages. Who is ‘you’? Airport is seized.
51:33-40 Nebuchadrezzar a “Swallower” (BLM).
51:45 Second warning. Carved images / statues torn down. Destroyers (ABD) from the North. “my people” in the middle – Chaldean Orthodox believers.
51:53, 57 The mounting up to heaven (Isaiah 14:12). Yahweh as King.
Scripture Checkoff
[ ] Luke 1:15. “For he will be great before
Yahweh.”
[ ] 2 Kings 24:11. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the
city.
[ ] Revelation 1:19. “Write what you saw, what is, and what will
follow.”
[ ] Luke 21:10. “Nation will rise
against nation.”
[ ] Isaiah 2:5. “Neither will they
learn war any more.”
[ ] Revelation 14:20. Blood came out of the winepress.
[ ] Revelation 9:14. “Release the
four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.”
[ ] Revelation 16:12. The sixth angel poured his bowl on the great
river Euphrates.
[ ] Jeremiah 51: 37. “Babylon will
become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals.”
[ ] Isaiah 21:9. “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the
images of her gods he has shattered.”
[ ] Jeremiah
51:49. “Babylon must fall for the slain
of Israel.”
[ ] Revelation 14:8.
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.”
[ ] Isaiah 13:22. “Hyenas will cry in its towers, and
jackals in the pleasant palaces.”
[ ] Isaiah 30:25 “in the day of the great
slaughter, when the towers fall.”
[ ] Revelation 18:2. “Fallen, fallen
is Babylon the great!
[ ] Revelation 18:4. “Come
out of her, my people! She will be burned.”
[ ] Revelation 18:12. “Gold,
silver, jewels, pearls, linen, purple, silk, scarlet.”
[ ] Revelation 18:17. “In one
hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”
[ ] Matthew 24:44. “Be ye ready.”
[i] Such as the Korean Conflict, Vietnam, or those involving powers like the Soviet Union and China