For the Likes of You and Me! (Poem)

This is what Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:25 mean!

 

Friends, for the likes of you and me,

Jesus sacrificed Himself, selflessly.

From sin, no way we could be freed,

Sentenced to a horrible destiny!

Thus, He paid our sin price in full,

By dying a death that was horrible!

He desires us to be thankful,

And in life, to sin, not be GULLIBLE.

 

After, from the grave, He was raised,

He dispatched His Spirit to be our aid,

To live lives He would not upbraid,

But that would honor His sacrifice made.

 

May this poem and picture remind us,

Of the horrible death He died for us.

It’s only by His Grace given to us,

That we can live lives pleasing to Jesus.

~0~

 

The historical reality of the cross reveals a Savior who did not remain distant from human pain, but physically entered into the absolute depths of it. When Isaiah predicted, and Peter later confirmed, 'by His stripes we are/were healed’, they anchored our faith in a profound truth: Jesus intimately understands the reality of a broken body.

 

Click here for a summary of what ‘crucifixion’

really meant in the brutal Roman Empire.

Your Prayer Mental Scene (Poem)

See the Prayer and Praying series here

If prayer to you is a grind,  

This, to me, The Lord signified:  

‘Across the table of your mind,

My seat is ALWAYS occupied.’

Ezekiel’s Prophetic ‘Quadfecta’ (Part 3)

See the series here

Chapter 38

 

NB: Many earlier posts and series explore and exposit this chapter. Accordingly, this post serves primarily as a condensed overview with hyperlinks to the broader, analytical framework behind the points summarized herein. 

 

This is the only chapter in Ezekiel’s ‘prophetic quadfecta’ (chapters 36-to-39) that does not include an ages divider. It predicts a Russia and Iran-led invasion of Israel at a time when it will be peaceful and relatively defenseless. The invasion will be supported by other fighters, possibly including African mercenaries. It will not be Armageddon—the final event of the predicted 42-month long apocalypse. The chapter focuses heavily on Gog as the personality who will trigger this invasion. There are many different understandings about who or what Gog may be. The Bible reveals he will trigger two invasions of Israel, sandwiching The Millennial Reign age. His repeated appearance across separated ages is one reason I intuit Gog may be much more than a human ruler—perhaps satan’s top demon general. For more, see: Revelation – Future Attacks in Israel. 

 

In First Ukraine, Next Israel’s Terrain? (Series) and other posts on Ezekiel 38, I ponder whether Russia’s coalition invasion of Ukraine might be a precursor—effectively a practice session—for this predicted invasion of Israel.

IsraRan (Part 3)

See the series here

As noted in Part 2, it stands to reason that, in making the land-grant to Abraham and his descendants, The Lord foreknew, and thus considered: 

 

1. All the pending occupants and functional uses of that land from the moment of His promise, until the end of the post-Millennial Reign age—the 6th and final age of our history on this current version of Earth—i.e., from Genesis 15:18-to- Revelation 20:7-9; and 

2. His plans to substantially reshape that land during His planned, TOTAL RENOVATION of Earth from how we currently know it. 

 

Let’s review the most strategically relevant aspects of the above points—what The Lord foreknew and likely considered when He made the land-grant to Abraham and his descendants.

A Prophetic Door, Left Open?

One of the most well-known prophetic statements is:

‘…But of that day and hour no one knows,

not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.’

Jesus speaking in Matthew 24:36.

 

For many believers, that assertion has become a blanket prohibition against trying to understand the timing of The Lord’s third (not second!) coming to Earth, and also of any pending prophetic event. Yet both the Old and New Testaments are chock full of veiled and concrete admonitions and examples of how people missed opportunities to discern the signs of their times, and paid severely for it. In Matthew 16:1-4, Jesus chided the Pharisees for their failure to ‘discern the signs of their times!’ While His phrase is unique, the expectation that His saints should learn to discern where we are within His unfolding plan, is woven throughout The Bible.

Nations in the Millennium (Part 1)

See the series here

The Lord led me to review the predicted conditions across Earth at the end of the apocalypse. This is what I ‘saw’, based on Scripture:

•  People are super rare on Earth.
•  Those who remain are utterly filthy, famished and flat out EXHAUSTED.
•  The stench and mental stains of cannibalism linger.
•  Trust among people is very thin in response to fears of theft and cannibalism.
•  Trees and grass are also very rare, and severely stressed.
•  Animals may be rare and stressed from the shortage of water and grass .
•  Every constructed shelter is destroyed by a GLOBAL earthquake.
•  No mountains or islands are insight anywhere, as they were destroyed in the GLOBAL earthquake, possibly triggering massive tsunamis across the Earth, and creating new lands where oceans, rivers and lakes previously appeared.
•  No major bodies of waters are in view.
•  All lands are a relatively flat plain, possibly except Jerusalem.
•  No prior geographic reference points remain.
•. No sense of national or political groupings anywhere.
•. No governments at any level remains.

You're Majority Immortal!

Our 'Longevity Itch'

 

We have a ‘persistent itch’ that just won’t go away! It is our abiding concern about how long we’ll live, and how we can prolong our time in this earthly life. That ‘itch’ gets stronger with each passing, senior birthday. And it’s ‘off the scale’ with any senior illness. In response, ‘longevity’ has become BIG BUSINESS, producing many meds, health preps and tools, counseling, apps, etc. Science has made great strides in understanding and learning how to tweak the bio mechanics of life. Yet, there are a few critical aspects of longevity that we ignore, sidestep or about which we are largely unaware.

The 7th Seal (Part 1)

See the series here

Before discussing the 7^th, final seal opening on The Lord’s scroll, predicted in Revelation chapter 8, following is a review of what I have shared about the first 4 and the 6th seals events. NB: The 5th seal event (the predicted ‘cry of the martyrs’ in Heaven), may have no discernible impacts on Earth.  

 

1. The post, He Twice Said, ‘Shortly’, reminds us that, in His Revelation vision to Apostle John, circa AD 95, The Lord twice said what the vision described would begin to happen shortly on Earth. The most relevant of those events are judgment impacts on Earth that would occur when He opened several seals on a scroll. Ancient and recent history, and even current events, reveal impacts from opening the first 4 seals began, and then significantly scaled up during the mid-to-end of the Roman Empire. Yet many Bible scholars intuit the first 7 of those events—Him opening the 7 seals on a scroll—will only begin thousands of years later, during the tribulation age, possibly as part of the predicted ~3.5 year apocalypse. I cannot imagine discounting His ‘shortly’ point to that extent.

The 7th Seal (Part 2)

See the series here

Revelation 8:1 predicts silence in heaven for about half an hour, when The Lord will open the 7th, final seal on His scroll. There are no direct references to any impacts on Earth. But since the very next verse references preparations for the 7 trumpets judgments on Earth, Bible scholars generally conclude (a) the half hour of silence is merely a brief prelude to the trumpets judgments; and (b) the reference to heaven is the realm of God. Those perspectives appear to miss some key strategic insights. 

The 7th Seal (Part 3)

 

See the series here

Biblical Silences

 

To understand the silence in Revelation 8:1, it is helpful to recall The Bible has a few explicit references, and many inferred references to silent periods in or from Heaven. Moreover, it is critical to perceive the most important period of silence from Heaven that will be relevant to the 4th age of our history—the tribulation age!

 

The books of Daniel and Revelation explicitly predict the rise of a global leader and system that will severely stress both Jews and Christians alike. Revelation calls him ‘the beast’. 1st and 2nd John indicate he will be the tail end of an exceptionally long parade of people who will deny Jesus/The Messiah has already come in the flesh—was born as a human. Daniel 7 and 12 signal the tribulation age—the Biblical 4th age of human history—will last about 7 years, or 2 halves of about 42 months each. The prophetic timeline reveals there are a series of things he must do during his roughly 42 month global reign of deception and death. Here’s the key point: