Category: Tribulation seven-years / Daniel’s 70th week / Jacob’s trouble

The Key to Be Happy! #7

Friday, March 31, 2023

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” (Proverbs 3:13 KJV).

What is the key to happiness?

Have you ever wondered who or what is the “strange woman” of Proverbs? You can locate her in 2:16, 5:3, 5:20, 6:24, 7:5, 20:16, 23:27, and 27:13. She is strange, not in the sense of bizarre or ridiculous, but “strange” as in “stranger” (for example, see “strangers” of Ephesians 2:12—Gentiles outside of Israel’s covenants, apart from Israel’s God, et cetera). She is a foreigner, and once a man connects with her, he is eternally doomed! “Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell” (Proverbs 5:5). “Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death” (Proverbs 7:27). She has no personal relationship with the God of creation, the God of the Bible, so she is a foreigner to the truth.

This “strange woman” is exactly like the “outlandish [foreign, pagan, heathen] women” who fooled Solomon (see Nehemiah 13:26,27; cf. “strange women” of 1 Kings 11:1!). In fact, such illicit sexual relations in the physical realm are related to satanic sexual relations in the spiritual realm (see Numbers 25:1-3; 2 Peter 2:14; Revelation 2:14,20-22; Revelation 14:4). Notice how the “simple man” (lacking wisdom—leaving Proverbs to follow Ecclesiastes) is the victim of the seductive strange woman (Proverbs 9:13-18). Here is the supporter of the Antichrist, a participant of the Whore of Babylon religious system (Revelation chapter 17), proselytizing precious souls and leading them to eternal damnation (Revelation 14:9-12). Of course, like any prostitute, she promises her “clients” “a good time”—and, only when it is too late, will they realize the spiritual disease she has transmitted to them!

Proverbs is much more than a handy “daily philosophy book.” It is literally a matter of spiritual life or spiritual death in the ages to come. The Jewish people have possessed the Book of Proverbs for 3,000 years—not to mention Ecclesiastes. However, in spite of all those warnings in more than 1,100 verses, they will still accept the Antichrist! While none of this relates to us the Church the Body of Christ, there is always a valuable lesson we can learn here….

The Key to Be Happy! #6

Thursday, March 30, 2023

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” (Proverbs 3:13 KJV).

What is the key to happiness?

One of the Antichrist’s characteristics will be his “understanding of dark sentences” (Daniel 8:23). A brilliant man, someone endowed with satanic wisdom, he can deceive the masses by employing eloquent, elegant, seductive, lofty arguments. In fact, like King Solomon, he will follow the pattern of sin laid out in Ecclesiastes, enticing his supporters to chart their own paths (isolated from the one true God). While sounding unbelievable, this has happened on a small-scale countless times in human history.

World religious leaders, philosophers, founders of cults, et cetera, have drawn billions upon billions away from the God of the Bible by promising their groups “enlightenment,” “satisfaction,” “fulfillment,” “peace,” “prosperity.” The Antichrist will be a supreme master in these realms (see Daniel 11:21,23,24,27,32; cf. Psalm 55:20,21). Only Israel’s believing remnant, having accepted God’s wisdom, will be able to overcome these lies (see Matthew 24:4,5,11,23-26; Mark 13:5,6,21-23; Luke 21:8).

By the way, Job’s three friends—with all their useless, worldly, natural-man advice (see the Book of Job)—represent the lost religious leaders deceiving Israel throughout Christ’s earthly ministry (Sadducees, Pharisees, and Herodians). There is no wisdom of God in any of it, so the Jewish people as a whole were unable to recognize God’s wisdom that Jesus Christ declared to them. In the future (Daniel’s 70th Week), this ignorance will again be a snare, except Israel will now be vulnerable to accepting the Antichrist! As before, they did not learn the lessons of the Book of Proverbs, so they are bound to repeat Ecclesiastes (like apostate Solomon)!

There are 90 references to “fools,” “foolishness,” and “folly” in the Book of Proverbs—the Antichrist’s disciples. In Proverbs, there are well over 100 references to “wisdom” or “wise” people—the Lord Jesus Christ’s followers (the “happy” people of today’s Scripture). However, the fools have tried in vain to satisfy the void that only the Lord Jesus Christ can fulfill, so they have nothing but misery and hopelessness when He comes back to destroy the Antichrist, his adherents, and the evil world system he represents….

The Key to Be Happy! #5

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” (Proverbs 3:13 KJV).

What is the key to happiness?

Chapter 1 of Proverbs begins: “[1] The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; [2] To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; [3] To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; [4] To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. [5] A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: [6] To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. [7] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

The first chapter of Proverbs sets the Book’s tone: the wisdom contained therein will keep Israel in God’s will, especially concerning Christ’s earthly ministry (which is 1,000 years into the future). Unfortunately, very few realize this prophetic significance of Proverbs. For example, did you know, dear friend, that, had Israel been walking by faith in Proverbs, they would have received Jesus Christ? Instead, they rejected Him, plotted to destroy Him, and crucified Him. Read Proverbs 1:10-19, compared to Matthew 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-12, and Luke 20:9-19. Proverbs is quite clear that they should have never conspired to do away with the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, notice the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts chapter 2, Pentecost) in Proverbs 1:23, and the outpouring of God’s wrath (Daniel’s 70th Week) in Proverbs 1:24-33 (cf. Joel 2:28-32 and Acts 2:16-21).

Ecclesiastes 12:13, the second to last verse of the Book, is Solomon’s deduction: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” This “fear of God” and these “commandments” are laid out in the Book of Proverbs. Had Solomon applied by faith what he knew in Proverbs (what the Holy Spirit had already used him to write), he would have never fallen into the spiritual trap of Ecclesiastes (what he wrote later). Israel, in the ages to come, is to learn these lessons so as to guard against the Antichrist’s lie program….

The Key to Be Happy! #4

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” (Proverbs 3:13 KJV).

What is the key to happiness?

Re-read 1 Kings 4:29-34 and 1 Kings 11:1-8. The transformation is downright striking! How were 1,000 pagan, devil-worshipping female lovers able to mislead wise King Solomon?! Did he not know any better? Here is a simple illustration of how having Divine knowledge imparted to us is not enough. We must apply it to life via wisdom—and that we have to do without fail. Solomon had spiritual light, but he did not walk in it all his days, and he (and the entire nation Israel) paid an extremely heavy price as a result (read 1 Kings 11:9-43).

Toward the latter half of his reign, King Solomon forsook the LORD. This is laid out in great detail in the Book of Ecclesiastes. A mighty king of Israel searches in vain to find happiness and fulfillment by amassing material riches, pursing entertainment, acquiring luxuries, obtaining secular education, and other carnal pleasures. He observes the world and speculates about everything he sees and hears but has no lasting peace or meaningful answers, leading him to dissatisfaction and anguish. Here is man’s lot without his Creator, the absolute best he can do apart from the living God. The final chapter of Ecclesiastes depicts an aged, dying fellow who realizes his quest has concluded with nothing but waste, bitterness, regret, and despair. Life is over, and he cannot re-do it!

What we have just described is the heart of the evil world system, which has deceived many through the millennia and will reach its ultimate form during Daniel’s 70th Week under the Antichrist’s system. Read Revelation chapters 17 and 18, noting the splendor, wealth, and corruption. This is what Israel’s believing remnant will be up against—what poor Solomon faced (and lost to) in a primitive manner. The Book of Proverbs is God’s wisdom designed to spare them from the humanism (human-oriented, God-rejecting philosophy) of Ecclesiastes. Proverbs says a great deal about wisdom versus foolishness, and the reason is that, in the ages to come, there will be a bitter struggle in the spiritual realm over the souls of people like this world has never seen….

The Key to Be Happy! #2

Sunday, March 26, 2023

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” (Proverbs 3:13 KJV).

What is the key to happiness?

History abounds with gloomy biographies of doleful individuals spending their whole lives seeking happiness—an exercise in futility. Brilliant philosophers, prolific writers, highly decorated military leaders, long-time politicians, affluent business leaders, innovative researchers, scholarly educators, and even respected religious leaders went to their graves utterly exhausted, completely frustrated, and totally miserable. Think about it; it is truly mind-boggling. We cannot estimate the total amount of time, energy, and resources they wasted to wind up at the end of their path with nothing to show for all their troubles! They were just more victims of Satan’s evil world system, an elaborate series of ingenious distractions designed to keep their eyes wholly off the God of the Bible and His purpose and plan for the ages. Without a meaningful context for anything and everything they did and said, they wished they had conquered nothing, discovered nothing, written nothing, made nothing, owned nothing, lived nothing.

Although Satan’s evil world system is in effect today, it has not yet reached its pinnacle. Starting in Genesis chapter 3, it has been strengthening these last six millennia, but will not culminate until the future time that the Scriptures title “Daniel’s 70th Week” (see Daniel 9:24-27). This is actually the context of today’s Scripture (and the entire Book of Proverbs): “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”

Knowledge is acquired or learned information. Wisdom is the skill of properly applying that knowledge in particular situations. Understanding is the ability to see how knowledge and wisdom form one overall coherent picture or plan. It is not enough to know. We must use wisdom (apply what we know). It is not enough to be wise. We need to gain understanding (fathom how what we know and apply thereby contributes to a meaningful “big picture”). It all starts by having the right knowledge, the correct information, and then putting that data into use so it conforms to that which the God of the Bible is doing….

Give Me Another Day to Think About It

Monday, March 20, 2023

“The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity” (Psalm 94:11 KJV).

Dear friends, are we so silly as to want another day to think about more folly?

Once, a police officer patrolling his neighborhood noticed a prostitute hobbling on crutches and wearing a conspicuous cast on her leg. He stopped his car and began talking with her. She explained how one of her “clients” had recently shot her in the foot and disabled her. In fact, she refused to name the perpetrator so the police could arrest him, fearing he would have her “coworkers” retaliate. At this point, the officer asked her if she wanted to leave her line of work and find a more respectable job. She hesitated and then replied, “Give me another day to think about it.” What ultimately happened to that poor woman is unknown.

As sinners, we engage in self-destructive behavior because it is fun. That woman working the streets was having a “good time,” and she was making a lot of money in the process, but her profession was indecent, hazardous, and even life-threatening. She wanted to wallow in sin just a little longer—knowing full well she was not acting in her best interests. There is pleasure in sin for a season, Hebrews 11:25 tells us. Read today’s Scripture in context (all of Psalm 94). The wicked are persecuting Israel’s believing remnant during Daniel’s 70th Week. With the Antichrist in office, crime abounds and no one is there to deliver the righteous. The saints suffer while the evildoers prosper; the evildoers believe they can continue in their sin and not reap the bitter consequences (see their empty thoughts in today’s Scripture).

The Psalmist asks God to “shew thyself” and take vengeance (verse 1). Here is one of the many “imprecatory psalms” of Scripture, the believers praying for the LORD to punish sinners and rescue saints. Psalm 94 summarizes the Second Coming of Christ, when He deals with such sinners in wrath (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9). If we are sinners without Jesus Christ today, may we come to Him by faith in His finished crosswork as sufficient payment for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4), while we still have opportunity. May we not say, “give me another day to think about it!”

Looking Unto Jesus

Saturday, March 4, 2023

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1,2 KJV).

An artist once drew a night scene in which a man was rowing a boat across a large body of water. The waves were rough and the winds were strong. Storm clouds veiled the moon and all the stars except one. Focused on that solitary point of light, the man paddled on and on. The artist added a caption at the bottom: “If I lose that, I am lost!” Here is an extremely simple application of today’s Scripture.

In Matthew 14:22-27, the Lord Jesus Christ was delayed in meeting His disciples in the ship on the Sea of Galilee. Eventually, they no longer expected Him. When He finally showed up, they supposed He was a spirit or ghost. Keep reading: “[28] And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. [29] And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. [30] But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. [31] And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? [32] And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.”

Peter took his eyes off the Lord, looked at his perilous circumstances, and began to sink! Likewise, in today’s Scripture, the Holy Spirit reminds believing Israel suffering the troubles of Daniel’s 70th Week to keep watching Jesus, not the evil Antichrist or his followers. Saints, we would do well to remember to firmly fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ and not our difficulties (Romans 8:31-39)!

Fill Up That Which is Behind? #2

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

“Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24 KJV).

Did Jesus Christ suffer enough to pay for our sins? Then how can Paul “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ?”

While Jesus Himself is not physically here to suffer, we suffer when we let Him live His life in and through us. The evil world system hated Him living during His earthly ministry, so it treats us with equal contempt. He told Israel’s believing remnant in John chapter 15: “[18] If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. [19] If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. [20] Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. [21] But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.”

Matthew chapter 25, Christ addressing the unbelieving nations who mistreated that same Little Flock during Daniel’s 70th Week: “[42] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: [43] I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. [44] Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? [45] Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these [tormented Messianic Jews], ye did it not to me.” The Lord identifies so closely with His persecuted people.

As believing Israel is oppressed for the Lord Jesus’ sake, so we His Body partake of the world’s rejection of Him….

God’s “Imperceptible” Work #4

Thursday, May 12, 2022

“And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them” (Exodus 2:23-25 KJV).

Beloved, the LORD is never idle, so may we grow in His words to better see His works….

God is neither “asleep” nor “on vacation;” He is quite alive and alert. Are we? He does care, having appointed a day when He will lift the curse of sin, restore creation to its original state, punish evil, and cause righteousness to prevail in the Earth. That is Christ’s glorious Second Coming of Revelation chapter 20. However, the prophetic program to which all these events belong is momentarily suspended.

The Apostle Peter himself ultimately realized that in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack [lazy, inattentive] concerning his promise [coming in wrath], as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Peter learned this from the Apostle Paul (see verses 15,16); we should ascertain it too. God’s wrath is delayed because the Dispensation of Grace has interrupted prophecy, thereby allowing people to come to faith in Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork alone, before that wrath does fall. Saul of Tarsus himself experienced that truth firsthand in Acts chapter 9 (cf. 1 Timothy 1:12-17).

Why does God not hurry up and accomplish His will in the Earth by judging sin now? He is forming the Church the Body of Christ, His heavenly people. Indeed, this world is a mess (Genesis chapter 3! Romans chapter 1! Romans chapter 8!)—and it will only worsen because it is headed for the Tribulation or Daniel’s 70th Week. Israel’s national restoration is delayed, for God is doing something amongst the Gentiles through Paul’s ministry (Romans 9–11); this parallels the LORD waiting to redeem Israel from Egypt until He had wrought a work with Gentile Pharaoh (cf. Romans 9:17,18). By faith, brethren, we see the Lord administering the mystery program, knowing full well the prophetic program will resume when “grace and peace” finishes!

Categorized! #7

Friday, April 29, 2022

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10 KJV).

Behold, the evil categorizer!

Addressing Israel’s believing remnant, both during the Acts period and Daniel’s 70th Week, the Apostle John communicates in 1 John chapter 2: “[1] My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: [2] And he is the propitiation [fully-satisfying payment or sacrifice] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” We want to draw our attention to the title “advocate.” Jesus Christ is the believer’s defense attorney or intercessor, someone called alongside to help. (By the way, that Greek word is “parakletos,” rendered “Comforter” with respect to the Holy Spirit aiding the believer. See John 14:16,26; John 15:26; John 16:7.)

Though the nation Israel is sinful and has not kept the Old Covenant, that system of the Law of Moses was temporary (see Galatians 3:15-26). Once a believing remnant learns the lesson of the Law—that they would be blessed of God because of His grace instead of their goodness—they can serve as His kingdom of priests in the Earth. That was the LORD’S intention all along with the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 12:1-3, long before the Law of Moses was ever instituted. The New Covenant qualifies them to be heirs of the Abrahamic Covenant. When Satan interjects that Israel’s believing remnant is composed of sinners, unable to be God’s people in the Earth, Jesus Christ pronounces them innocent, for He has paid for their sins by shedding His sinless blood on Calvary’s cross! Their sin debt cancelled, Satan’s “categorizing” of them is invalid.

As members of the Church the Body of Christ, the same is true of us. “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Colossians 2:13).

Our two latest Bible Q&As: “How does the love of Christ ‘constrain’ us?” and “Should we pray to the Holy Ghost?”