End Times :: End Times Perspective :: The Campaign of Armageddon pt 3

"Last Generation Forums" :: End Times :: End Times Perspective :: The Campaign of Armageddon pt 3  Author Topic: The Campaign of Armageddon pt 3 (Read 1 time) Michael James Stone Administrator Site-Administrator member isonline   Joined: May 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 1,391 The Campaign of Armageddon pt 3 « Thread Started Today at 8:53am »    THE THIRD STAGE: THE FALL OF JERUSALEM Although the Antichrist will have all his allied forces with him when he receives the news that his capital city has been destroyed, he does not move eastward to destroy his enemies. It is Satan who will be in control and it is Satan's program, that of Jewish destruction, that will be uppermost in his mind. So instead of moving east, the Antichrist will move south against Jerusalem. It is Zechariah who described this third stage in two places. The first is Zechariah 12:1-3: The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus saith Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him: Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. The second is in Zechariah 14:1-2: Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. From the Valley of Jezreel the armies of the Antichrist will move south, and all the armies of all the nations will gather against Jerusalem. Once again, Jerusalem will fall into Gentile hands, and half of the Jewish population will be taken into slavery while the other half will be allowed to remain in the city to await a later fate. The capture of Jerusalem by the forces of the Antichrist will not come easily. God will greatly energize the Jews to withstand the attack to a great degree, causing heavy losses to the armies of the Antichrist. Zechariah 12:3 stated that all these nations that burden themselves with Jerusalem will be sorely wounded, and Jerusalem will become truly burdensome to them. The empowerment of the Jewish forces is described in Zechariah 12:4-9: In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness. And the chieftains of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Jehovah of hosts their God. In that day will I make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and they of Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem. Jehovah also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah. In that day shall Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. These verses describe God's providential dealings at this stage of the Campaign of Armageddon prior to the actual intervention by the personal return of Jesus the Messiah. In the battle for Jerusalem, the Jewish military leaders will be so energized that they appear to strike down the enemy as quickly as a torch begins to burn up wood that is very dry. The feeble among the Jews take on the strength of David, and the Davids among them take on the strength of the Angel of Jehovah. What is meant by God's saving the tents of Judah first, that is, before Jerusalem, will be discussed later in this chapter. Nevertheless, this is one of the ways God will begin destroying the nations that have come against Jerusalem (v. 9). This energizing of the Jewish forces in the battle for Jerusalem is further described in Micah 4:11-5:1: And now many nations are assembled against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye see our desire upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of Jehovah, neither understand they his counsel; for he hath gathered them as the sheaves to the threshing-floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain unto Jehovah, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. Now shalt thou gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us; they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. The nations will be assembled against Jerusalem (v. 11) for the purpose of destroying it. But in the course of doing so, these nations will become like sheaves on the threshing-floor (v. 12), and the Jewish forces will be able to thresh them well. However, the battle will be lost, and the Gentiles will capture Jerusalem and symbolize it by smiting Jerusalem's leader on the cheek (v. 1). After such heavy fighting and great losses, the soldiers of the Antichrist will plunder the Jewish homes of Jerusalem, and Jewish women will be subjected to massive rapes (Zech. 14:2). With this, the third stage will come to an end. THE FOURTH STAGE: THE ARMIES OF THE ANTICHRIST AT BOZRAH While Jerusalem falls in the third stage of the Campaign of Armageddon, the majority of the Jews are no longer in Jerusalem. In fact, they are no longer even in the Land of Israel. According to Matthew 24:15-22 and Revelation 12:6-17, the State of Israel as it now exists will collapse in the middle of the Tribulation and there will be another dispersion out of the Land. The majority of the one-third Remnant that survives makes its way into a special place. The Scriptures provide several clues as to where this place is located. According to Matthew 24:16, it is in the mountains; in Revelation 12:6, 13-14, it is in the wilderness; and in Isaiah 33:12-16, it is in a very rocky place that is easily defended. These are all clues, but no specific place is named. However, Micah 2:12 does name a specific place: I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The specific place where the Remnant of Israel is said to be hiding is a city known in Hebrew as Bozrah. That same city is better known today by its Greek name of Petra. It is called Petra by the Greeks because this entire city is composed of buildings which are carved out of cliff-rocks and the name Petra means "cliff-rock." In Hebrew the city is called Bozrah which means "sheepfold" because that is what this city is shaped like. An ancient sheepfold had a very narrow passageway going in so that the shepherd would be able to count his sheep as they entered the sheepfold to make sure none were lost. Once they were inside the sheepfold, it would open into a larger, circular area where the sheep would have more freedom of movement. That is exactly what Bozrah looks like. The only way into this city is by a very narrow passageway which extends for about 11/4 miles in length. Once you are through this narrow passageway, which can be defended by only two men against a whole army, you are inside a huge, circular area. It is a place that is "easily defended"; it is within the wilderness of the area of Jordan; it is also in the mountain ranges of Mount Seir. It is part of the ancient territory known as Edom or modern-day, southern Jordan. Why here of all places? Besides the fact that it is easily defended, another reason is given in Daniel 11:36-45. Here he describes the conquest of the Antichrist in the middle of the Tribulation as the Antichrist begins his world political takeover. But verse 41 makes the following statement: He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. While the Antichrist does gain world political control, Daniel says three nations will escape his domination. These three nations are the ancient nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon. Today, all three of these ancient nations comprise only one nation: Jordan. The city of Petra or Bozrah is within the territory of ancient Edom or modern, southern Jordan. As always in Jewish history, whenever there has been persecution of the Jews in one part of the world, God always opened up a place3/4a city of refuge3/4in another part of the world. The crucial Jewish-history year of 1492, as the nations of Europe began expelling their Jews, was the same year that Columbus discovered the New World which has become one of the greatest havens for Jewish refugees fleeing persecution elsewhere. The principle is that when the Jews are being persecuted in one place, there is a city of refuge in another place. In the Tribulation, when the whole world turns against the Jews under the Antichrist, even then God makes certain there is one place in the world outside the political domination of the Antichrist: the land of Edom or modern, southern Jordan. That is the only place the Jews will be able to flee to, and that is where they will flee. The bulk of the Remnant will be hiding there at that time. Since the purpose of this campaign is the total annihilation of the Jews still living, after Jerusalem falls in the third stage, next comes the fourth stage of the Campaign of Armageddon, when the armies of the world will move southward from Jerusalem to Bozrah as Jeremiah 49:13-14 makes clear: For I have sworn by myself, says Jehovah, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. I have heard tidings from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. The next place where the nations of the earth will gather is at Bozrah in order to destroy the Remnant of Israel that will be gathered there. In stage four the armies begin moving south and applying pressure upon the bulk of the Remnant now in hiding in the city of Bozrah or Petra. THE FIFTH STAGE: THE NATIONAL REGENERATION OF ISRAEL There are two preconditions that must be met for the Second Coming of Messiah. First, there must be a national confession of Israel. According to Leviticus 26:39-42, before Israel can enjoy the full benefits of the Abrahamic Covenant as it pertains to the borders of the Promised Land, they must first confess the iniquity of their fathers. One, specific iniquity of their fathers has to be confessed before they could enjoy the full benefits of the Abrahamic Covenant. Jeremiah 3:12-18 teaches that before Israel can enjoy the full benefits of the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom they must also confess their iniquity. Again, iniquity was both singular and specific: one specific sin has to be confessed before they can enjoy the full benefits of the Millennial or Messianic Kingdom. Hosea 5:15 reads: I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly. Before anyone can go back to a place, he must first leave it. Only after he has left it can he then return to it. God says that He will return to His place. God's place is Heaven, so before God can return to Heaven He must first leave it. When did God ever leave Heaven? He left Heaven at the Incarnation when He became man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. But because of one, specific offence committed against Him, He went back to Heaven at the Ascension from the Mount of Olives. The verse goes on to point out that He will not return to this earth until that offence is confessed. The Jewish national offence committed against the person of Jesus is not in killing Him, because it was Gentiles who killed Jesus; it was Gentiles who put Jesus to death. The Jewish national offence lies in the rejection of His Messiahship. Until that rejection is confessed, there will be no Second Coming. Second, there must be a pleading for Him to return. Zechariah 12:10 states that before there can be a national cleansing of Israel's sins (Zech. 13), and before there can be a Second Coming and Kingdom (Zech. 14), Israel must first look unto the One . . . whom they have pierced, and they must mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son. According to Matthew 23:37-39, before Jesus will come back, Israel must plead for Him to come back with the words: Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. The point is that just as the Jewish leaders once led the nation to the rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus, the Jewish leaders must someday lead the nation to acceptance of the Messiahship of Jesus. The basis of the Second Coming of Messiah based upon these passages is basically two-fold: (1) Israel must confess their national sin3/4the rejection of His Messiahship; but (2) they must plead for Him to return3/4to mourn for him, as one mourns for [an] only son. In Hosea 6:1-3, we have the continuation of the thoughts of chapter five. Hosea 5:15 ended with the statement that Jesus the Messiah would not return to this earth until that offence of the rejection is confessed. The first three verses of chapter six is a response to the demands of Hosea 5:15 and they read as follows: Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth. This passage is actually a continuation of Hosea five. The chapter division is unfortunate, because it breaks the train of thought. This passage contains the acknowledgment of the sin demanded in 5:15. Verses 1-3 are in the form of a call issued by the Jewish leaders exhorting the nation to repent and confess their national sin (vv. 1-2). Only then will the physical blessings Israel once enjoyed be restored to her (v. 3). The leaders of Israel will finally recognize the reason why the Tribulation has fallen on them. Whether this will be done by the study of the Scriptures, or by the preaching of the 144,000, or via the Two Witnesses, or by the ministry of Elijah, is not clearly stated. Most likely, there will be a combination of these things. But the leaders will come to a realization of the national sin in some way. Just as the Jewish leaders once led the nation to the rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus, they will now lead the nation to the acceptance of His Messiahship by issuing the call of Hosea 6:1-3, which will begin the last three days before the Second Coming. The confession of Israel's national sin will last for the first two days. The national confession of Israel is given with its actual words in Isaiah 53:1-9: Who hath believed our message? and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed? For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. In this confession, they admit that the nation had looked upon Jesus as nothing more than another man, a criminal who had died for His own sins. However, on this occasion they recognize that He was no ordinary man, but the perfect Lamb of God, the Messiah Himself. Furthermore, it was not for His own sins that Messiah died, but for theirs, so that they need not be stricken for their sin. Thus, the national regeneration will come by means of the national confession of Isaiah 53:1-9. On the third of the last three days, the nation as a nation will be saved, fulfilling the prophecy of Romans 11:25-27: For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved: even as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: And this is my covenant unto them, When I shall take away their sins. The all Israel means just that-every Jew living at that point of time, meaning the third that are left from the original number of Jews living at the start of the Tribulation (Zech. 13:8-9). Israel's national confession and regeneration will be accomplished within two days after the issuance of the call. The second facet leading to the Second Coming is the pleading of Israel for the Messiah to return and save them from their predicament of having the world armies intent on their destruction gathered outside of Bozrah. The pleading of the Jews for the Messiah to come and save them is the subject of much revelation. It is described in Zechariah 12:10-13:1: And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. The pleading of Israel for the Messiah to return will not be confined to the Jews of Bozrah, but will include the Jews still in Jerusalem. It will begin with the confession of the national sin, and then they will plead for His return to save them from the troubles described in the preceding context. They plead for the One Whom they have pierced. This will be the result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (v. 10); Israel's mourning for the Messiah (12:11-14); and the cleansing of Israel's sins (13:1). Another prophecy of this event is in Joel 2:28-32: And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and among the remnant those whom Jehovah doth call. Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit, and here the nation of Israel will be regenerated because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on them, creating some dramatic manifestations in their midst (vv. 28-29). This will be accompanied by wonders in the heavens as well (vv. 30-31). The result of all this is that the Jews of Jerusalem will be delivered and escape, as well as the Remnant of Bozrah (v. 32). In the process of Israel's regeneration and new prophetic manifestations, the false prophets who have led Israel astray during the course of the Tribulation will be executed, as recorded in Zechariah 13:2-6: And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. And it shall come to pass that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of Jehovah; and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he prophesieth; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive: but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth. And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds between thine arms? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. At the time of Israel's national cleansing from sin (v. 2) the false prophets will be sought out and executed. Often the parents of the false prophets will themselves be the ones to carry out the execution (vv. 2-3). Though many of these false prophets will attempt to hide the fact that they were formerly prophets, the scars on their bodies, a symbol of their prophetic office, will betray them for what they were. Their denials will not be able to save them (vv. 4-6). That the Remnant comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus the Messiah by way of the fires of the Tribulation is summarized in Zechariah 13:7-9: Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith Jehovah of hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn my hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God. Verse seven gives the basic reason why the events of the Tribulation will fall on Israel. God's shepherd, the Messiah, was smitten and so His sheep, Israel, were scattered throughout the world. Toward the latter end of the dispersion will come the Great Tribulation, through which two-thirds of the Jewish population will be killed (v. 8). But the remaining third will be refined. By means of the national confession of their sin, they will be purified (v. 9). God will then answer their pleading for Him to come and save them. They will once again be His people, and He will be their God. Isaiah 64:1-12 also describes the pleading for the Second Coming of the Messiah: Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence, as when fire kindleth the brushwood, and the fire causeth the waters to boil; to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down; the mountains quaked at thy presence. For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God besides thee, who worketh for him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou wast wroth, and we sinned: in them have we been of long time; and shall we be saved? For we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us by means of our iniquities. But now, O Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore, O Jehovah, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, look, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. The holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion is become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Jehovah? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore? The passage begins with the pleading for the Lord to come down and let the nations realize His presence (vv. 1-2). The Remnant of Israel will remember the mighty works of God in the past (vv. 3-7) and seek those mighty works of God again (v. 8). They will ask for the forgiveness of their sins (v. 9). Their disastrous plight is shown by the fact that Jerusalem had been made a desolation by the nations (v. 9-10) and the Temple was still defiled (v. 11). The passage ends with a plea for God to intervene lest they, too, become ruined (v. 12). Several of the Psalms are merely poetic versions of the pleading of the remnant for God to come and save them from the invading armies. One such passage is Psalm 79:1-13: O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance;  Thy holy temple have they defiled;  They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.  The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be food unto the birds of the heavens,  The flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.  Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem;  And there was none to bury them.  We are become a reproach to our neighbors,  A scoffing and derision to them that are round about us.  How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou be angry for ever?  Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?  Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not,  And upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name.  For they have devoured Jacob,  And laid waste his habitation.  Remember not against us the iniquities of our forefathers:  Let thy tender mercies speedily meet us;  For we are brought very low.  Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name;  And deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name's sake.  Wherefore should the nations say, Where is their God?  Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed Be known among the nations in our sight.  Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee:  According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to death;  And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom Their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.  So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture Will give thee thanks for ever:  We will show forth thy praise to all generations.  This Psalm is impossible to understand except in the context of the faithful Remnant pleading for the Messiah to return and save them from the invading Gentile armies. After recalling the events of the fall of Jerusalem (the third stage), with the city in ruins, the Abomination of Desolation of the Temple, and the death of so many Jews (vv. 1-4), they will plead for God to come down, to rescue them and to pour His wrath out on the Gentile nations (vv. 5-7). They will plead for the forgiveness of the sins of their forefathers (as demanded by Lev. 26:40) who led the nation to the rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus, as well as for the forgiveness of their own sins (vv. 8-9). On the basis of what these Gentile nations have done to Israel, they will ask God to avenge them as He had promised and to save them from their enemies (vv. 10-12). Then they will give thanks and sing the praise of God forever (v. 13). Another Psalm that describes the pleading of the remnant is Psalm 80:1-19: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,  Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock;  Thou that sittest above the cherubim, shine forth.  Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up thy might,  And come to save us. Turn us again, O God;  And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.  O Jehovah God of hosts,  How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?  Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears,  And given them tears to drink in large measure.  Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbors;  And our enemies laugh among themselves.  Turn us again, O God of hosts;  And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.  Thou broughtest a vine out of Egypt:  Thou didst drive out the nations, and plantedst it.  Thou preparedst room before it,  And it took deep root, and filled the land.  The mountains were covered with the shadow of it,  And the boughs thereof were like cedars of God.  It sent out its branches unto the sea,  And its shoots unto the River.  Why hast thou broken down its walls,  So that all they that pass by the way do pluck it?  The boar out of the wood doth ravage it,  And the wild beasts of the field feed on it.  Turn again, we beseech thee, O God of hosts:  Look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine,  And the stock, which thy right hand planted,  And the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.  It is burned with fire, it is cut down:  They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.  Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,  Upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.  So shall we not go back from thee:  Quicken thou us, and we will call upon thy name.  Turn us again, O Jehovah God of hosts;  Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.  This Psalm opens with a pleading for the Shepherd of Israel to come and save them (vv. 1-2). Not only will they plead for their physical deliverance, but also for their spiritual salvation (v. 3). The phrase, turn us again, points to the repentance and conversion by which we shall be saved. After describing the bitter state in which they find themselves, having become the laughing stock of the nations, they will plead once again for God to come and save them (vv. 4-7). Recalling God's past dealings with Israel from the Exodus to the kingdom of David and Solomon (vv. 8-11), they will mourn over their present state of having been slowly brought down by the Gentile nations (vv. 12-13). Therefore, they will appeal to God to turn to them and defend the cause of Israel which had been so badly bruised (vv. 14-16). The specific person they are pleading for is the one on God's right hand (v. 17), referred to as the son of man. This is none other than Jesus the Messiah, who has been sitting at the right hand of God the Father ever since the ascension from the Mount of Olives after He was rejected by Israel. Only by faith in the Son of Man can Israel be regenerated. Only by calling upon the name of the Lord can Israel be saved spiritually (vv. 18-19). Only by the return of the Son of Man can Israel be saved physically. In conclusion, during the fifth stage, Israel as a nation will be regenerated and saved after two days of national confession of sin. On the third day, they will plead for the Second Coming of the Messiah.   Report to Mod - Link to Post - Back to Top   Logged

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