This was Randy’s last teaching in church before going to be with the Lord.
Although twelve years have gone by, I’m sure you will find it just as relevant today as it was in 2012. These truths were burning in his heart, and they continue to challenge us and make us even more passionate to fulfill the Great Commission.
More than 2,000 years have gone by since Jesus responded to his disciples’ questions about the end-times (Mathew 24). Today, news reports talk about wars, terrorist attacks, and catastrophes never seen before. My question is, what does God expect from us? These are times in which we must act! Let me share with you the direction in which we should act.
DO NOT SHUT YOUR EYES
Reporters are continually informing us of what´s going on in the Middle East, and I think many believers simply change the channel. “Noooo, not again. Why do they keep saying the same things? A third world war? Palestinian wars…?”
Maybe you who are reading this, feel the same way and you don’t want to hear about the Middle East anymore. But, have you realized that prophecies spoken by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the minor prophets, and even from the book of Exodus, are now being fulfilled? Yes, many prophecies are coming to pass right before our eyes, supernaturally, and the people of God are not even praying about them.
When I watch the news I ask the Lord, “Show me, open my eyes to understand what I am seeing”. Because I know we are living in a time like what Mathew 13:16-17 is referring to: “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (RSV).
LOOK TOWARDS ISRAEL, GOD’S PROPHETIC CLOCK
More changes have taken place in the Middle East in the last 12 months, than in the previous 2,000 years. Israel is in the Middle East and is the nation God chose for Himself, the nation that marks earth’s prophetic clock. Whatever takes place in that nation will produce world-wide effects and repercussions. So, we cannot close our eyes to what is taking place in Israel.
For centuries, several neighboring countries have harbored much hate towards Israel, wanting to totally destroy the nation.
I believe that God has kept Egypt “still”, as a pacifier, because it was not yet God’s time to remove His seal from the Middle East. But since last year [2011], when the youth arose vehemently against the Egyptian government and did away with its leaders, all the hatred of that nation towards Israel has come to light and been made known.
How did it all begin? Ishmael and Isaac were Abraham’s sons. Galatians 4:24 teaches us that both these men and their mothers represent two covenants. God promised Abraham that he would be a “…father to many nations”, although his wife, Sarah, was barren. She gave Abraham her Egyptian maid, Hagar, as a wife to bear him a son. (Genesis 16:3).
But when Hagar conceived, many problems began. She looked at Sarah with contempt and Sarah dealt harshly with her, forcing Hagar to flee. An angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring of water and told her that her son would be called Ishmael. Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael was born and as the first-born, he expected to be the heir of all his father’s riches. But that did not happen, although God, in His mercy, did promise Ishmael that He would bless him, make him fruitful and multiply exceedingly. He became the father of twelve princes and a great nation (Genesis 17:18-21).
God also prophesied that Ishmael, and a great part of his Arabic descendants would be of character as: “a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man’s hand against him…” (Genesis 6:12). Throughout the whole Old Testament, we read about the great hostilities of the Ishmaelites against the people of Israel – and this is true even today. Muslim tradition says that the name Islam came from the name Ishmael.
When Ishmael was still a young boy, God reaffirmed His covenant with Abraham and said that Ishmael would not be his heir but another son that He would give him in his old age. God visited Abraham again when he was ninety-nine years old and promised him that Sarah would give birth to a baby, and although she had been barren and was very old, God promised to perform a miracle. Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son who was named Isaac. In Genesis 15:3-7 and 17:8, God promised Abraham that He would give Isaac’s descendants – not Ishmael’s – the land of Canaan as a permanent possession.
Ishmael and Isaac, two descendants of the same father, claiming possession of the same land.
Ever since then, the sons of Isaac – the Jewish people – and the descendants of Ishmael – mostly Muslim Arabs, claim their rights as legal owners of the land occupied by Israel since 1948 when it was legally declared by the United Nations to be Israel, the nation of the Jewish people. This is where “the Jihad” or the “Islamic Resistance for the liberation of Palestine” came from. The violence of those Muslim extremists was foretold in the book of Genesis when God spoke to Hagar as she was pregnant with Ishmael (father of the Arabs, in her womb) and fleeing from her mistress: “…and he shall dwell over all of his kinsmen” (Genesis 6:12b).
Ishmael and Isaac represent two covenants: those that come to God through the law are like Ishmael, always wanting to fight and claim their rights; those that come to God through grace are like Isaac. Galatians 4:22- 28 says: “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman.
But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through the promise”. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now, Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But Jerusalem, above, is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in travail; for the children of the desolate one are many more than the children of her that is married. Now we, brethren, like Isaac, are the children of the Promise.”
The Arabs and Palestinians have publicly declared their intention to completely erase Jerusalem and the people of Israel from the face of the Earth. They are not seeking to reach an agreement. Their only objective is to totally do away with Israel.
With the eminent nuclear threat that Iraq made against Israel in 1981, Israel sought help from other nations to bomb that country. However, since the nations did not agree to it, Israel did not go against Iraq alone.
Now, faced with a nuclear threat from Iran, Israel has requested help from other nations to attack Iran.
Israel announced that it would attack Iran before June of 2012 with or without support from the nations.
What will this cause? A retribution of vengeance. That is why the Bible speaks of a “…day of the vengeance of the Lord”. These times are like none before. When something is boiling it cannot be pacified for another 100 years. Oh, but we can wait some more months, or better still, 3 or 4 more years.
Except that this growing, brewing revolution has not been seen in more than 2,000 years, and it will be a totally different revolution from anything we have ever known. When the disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of His coming, he answered, “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that He is near, at the very gates.” That is why it is essential that we pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-9).
DO NOT BE AFRAID
No one knows the day nor the hour of the end of the world, and what I have said is not meant to instill fear. It is so that we may be aware of this truth to begin acting on it. If we allow ourselves to be full of fear, we will not be full of faith. God commands us once and again to not fear (Genesis. 15.1; Deuteronomy 1:21; Joshua 8:1; 1 Chronicles 28:20; Isaiah
41:10; Daniel 10:19; Mark 5:36; Acts 18:9; Romans 8:15; 1 John 4:18; Revelation 2:10). “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Fear is contrary to faith. Fear makes us hide and be silent. But faith moves us to act and do God’s will.
WHAT IS OUR PART AT THIS TIME?
Once we belong to Him, God uses us to reach others. He saves us, and then He sends us out. We are messengers of the love of God and of His purposes for the world. In the Great Commission Jesus said: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mathew 28:18-20). This Commission was assigned to each follower of Christ, and not only to pastors or missionaries. This is your Commission on behalf of the Lord — it is not optional! We are associated with Him in building His kingdom. We are His fellow workers (1 Corinthians 3:9).
Charla con nosotros