The Israeli War: Another Bud on the Prophetic Tree

You know, it has been a very interesting, if not amazing, couple weeks. When we left Cincinnati on the Friday before the feast began, actually on the day the feast began that morning we flew out to Estes Park. The world is in one state that was far different than it was three and a half years ago, and we're coming back here home, and the world is in a completely different state today than it was when we all left before the feast. Things keep happening, and the world keeps changing, and we continue to see God putting those buds or letting those buds open up on the prophetic tree. He's very detailed and very paints a good picture when he says, when you see the buds on these trees, know that the time is near. And over the last three and a half years, we've seen many, many buds appear that show that the time of Christ's return is drawing nearer and nearer. You know, that prophetic tree, that prophetic tree, one day will be in full bloom, and the time of Christ's return will be upon us. But God lets us see what is going on for reasons that we may be prepared for the time that is coming, because the time between now and the return of Jesus Christ is not a fun and wonderful time. It's not a time to be afraid, and it's not a time to be dismayed, but a time to be growing closer to God as we see these things happen. You know, the terror attack on Israel last week was something the world hasn't seen in a while. In a way, I think the world may have forgotten what terror is like and what the face of it is. It is an ugly and hateful thing.

And the rhetoric that has come out of Israel and from around the world as the actions have been condemned, and the surprise of how many people are supporting that terror attack has been quite eye-opening. And with that attack on Israel, so many of the pundits say this is another one of those wars, because now we literally have gone into a time where there are wars, major wars, as well as rumors of wars that Christ said would be before the return of Jesus Christ.

And that this conflict could go on for years and years, just like the Ukraine and Russia war seems to have no end, and it just sort of goes on and on and on and on. But make no mistake, another bud has appeared on the tree with Israel. And the world, as we knew it two weeks ago, will not be the same as it was ever again in this time, because this conflict and what the determination of the nation of Israel and the terror state as well is pretty real.

You know, as we've looked at this and as we were surprised last Sabbath when, you know, I got a call of what was going on in Israel, no one saw it coming. And you listen to the news and no one, no one saw it coming. It's been pretty well played on the news media that even one of the State Department or Defense Department spokesman, you know, has said that, made a comment just two weeks ago that it's never been a time that's been as quiet in the Middle East. And so everything seemed to be really peaceful, really in good, good shape.

And then boom, out of nowhere, one of the key words on these buds that we see keep opening on that prophetic tree is that word suddenly, out of nowhere, out of nowhere, this came. Israel didn't see it coming. The United States didn't see it coming. The Defense Department, no one saw it coming. And boom, we have this tragedy that is on the world.

You know, when you read through the prophecy in the Bible, that word suddenly appears a lot where God is concerned. One of those places, you don't have to turn there, is in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 3. And that fulfillment of that verse is yet to come, but it says, when they say peace and safety, peace and safety, sudden destruction comes.

But we see this pattern of there. There was no indication that this terror attack would occur in Israel, but suddenly it appeared. And suddenly it took the world by surprise. If you will, turn with me back to Isaiah, or 2, Isaiah 48. In Isaiah 48, we find that word suddenly in a number of occasions. And in Isaiah 48 and verse 3, God talks about these things. He talks about what will happen, the signs of the time of the end, the prophecy that he gives us.

Of course, in Isaiah 45 and 55, he tells us that the things he says are going to happen. We don't have to think that they're not. If God says it, it will happen. And in Isaiah 48 verse 3, he says, I have declared the former things from the beginning.

God knows. God knows what's going to happen. He, before the foundation of the earth, his plan was in effect. I have declared the former things from the beginning. They went forth from my mouth, and I caused them to hear it. We've heard these things, those of us in the church, we know what these things are. Now we're beginning to see what they really mean and how they're coming about after years of hearing them. They went forth from my mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly, God says, suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

Heard about them. Maybe he got tired of hearing about them. Maybe he thought, oh, that's way in the distant future. That will never happen. But God says, suddenly they will happen. Suddenly you'll be there. Those prophecies that we've talked about and read in the Bible that have been there for millennia before we ever opened the Bible and understood it or even on earth is there. And we've seen that. We've seen that as our world has dramatically changed in the last three and a half years since March of 2020. It means suddenly, suddenly COVID was thrust upon us, right?

No one knew what COVID was. And all of a sudden, we had these multiplying cases around the world. Suddenly we were thrown into these these situations that none of us ever expected. I remember sitting here in Orlando and on Thursday we were planning for Sabbath services and the Yiddish came out. Sabbath services have to be canceled because of all this. Pretty soon we had, within a couple days, no more than 100 in a place, no more than 50, no more than 25, down to no more than 10 in one place at a time.

And all those things happened without warning, without any kind of foresight, and we did it. We had masks thrown on us. Who ever thought of masks? And all of a sudden there was masks that were thrown upon us. You must wear masks or you must not. And there was conflict that arose over that. There were vaccines that came down the road. There were lockdowns. There were reports on TV about if your neighbors or your friends have more than 10 people in their house, call the authorities and report them.

And all of a sudden we lived in this kind of police state. Like, watch out for one another and you, we have this situation that none of us had ever come about before. All of a sudden we had censorship. Someone said something that the government didn't like and so all of a sudden we had cancel culture come in. We had censorship come in. We had people lose their jobs, lose their careers, because they had a different opinion than what the government had.

And we began to see the rudiments of an authoritarian type government that was beginning to take shape in all places of America. This was a global event. This was the first event in our lifetimes where the entire world was involved in it. You know, as COVID listed and we watched how fear was used to manipulate the public, we saw other things develop. You know, on the heels of an administrative change, all of a sudden we had sexual depravity be been to be championed.

Do this. And a need goes out. This is the case. And all of a sudden we have things that we've heard of but never thought of as anything that would become heroes. And all of a sudden we live in a land where this sexual abnormality and whatever is championed above what the norm of what God created. And we live kind of in an alternate universe. As we look at those things and scratch our heads, how did that happen that quickly? How did so much of the public embrace that? And why is evil truly becoming being called good? Just as we were told in Isaiah that there would be a time when evil is called good and good evil. And we see that happening because if you believe in God, if you believe in the Bible or these antiquated norms that people have lived by, you aren't anyone that people want to pay attention to. You need to get with the new agenda, if you will. And so we saw that happen. We've seen the news openly talk about lawlessness.

I mean, we don't even have to wonder, is it lawlessness? They tell us it's lawlessness, and Christ is clear. When lawlessness abounds, the love of many will wax cold. There is a danger to God's people in a time of lawlessness, a time for us to draw closer to Him that we don't get lured in to the arguments and the clever, cunning things that the government would have us say, or our entertainers would have us believe, or even our teachers in schools would have us believe, because all of a sudden education became something that it was never before. Where teachers in some places are teaching children unimaginable things that will change them forever, that they can never have a normal life with the things that they've been being fed. And you've heard me say it before, and we're working on things at the home office. The parents, you need to be aware of what is going on and not have your eyes closed to what might be being taught to your children if they're in public schools or even with their friends in the world, because the things that are out there are absolutely, absolutely evil and wrong. And what they're being taught in some cases will never, they will never get out of their minds. So important for people and parents to be teaching about God every single day at home. And we're working on some programs to send out to have that daily Bible study available for parents to do along with homeschooling or whatever it is that you do, because there's never been a time like now for Deuteronomy 6 that when you rise up, when you lay down, when you eat, when you sleep, that you are talking about God and your children are armed with what the truth is and that they don't get lulled to sleep by what this world is thrusting on them. You know, we learned about our banks as well. I mean, we all probably have checking accounts or savings accounts, and we learned through some situations that our banks will report us. Oh, you, he was at that place at that time. Or he may believe something that you don't want to hear he believes, and all of a sudden we learned our banks can turn us in. Or, as talks of a digital currency occur, with one push of a button, everything that we have can just be frozen.

Just be frozen. And no matter whether you got a dollar in the bank or a billion dollars in the bank, you can be thrust into a situation where you have nothing. And so all of a sudden, Revelation 13 and the penalty for not taking the mark of the beast becomes a little more real when we realize if we have our trust in bank accounts, if we have our trust in currency, that can be wiped away in no time. Literally with the push of a button. And as a digital currency continues to be talked about around the world, not just in the United States, that reality is there. We see these buds on the tree that are filling up that tree more and more and more. And then in America we have this woke mentality. This woke mentality that just in a way defies the imagination. But it has captured so many people in the world today. And it is the antithesis of everything you and I have been taught. It's the antithesis of what the Bible says. And we see this tremendous split in the world today. All these things that in March 2020, life was one way, but here in October 2023, it's completely different. It will never go back to the way it was. And the Israeli war, when we added the Ukrainian war onto it, which seems to be a never-ending battle that has had its effect on the world, not just in the fact of the resources that are being used and used over there, but even informing alliances that have biblical basis. We see Russia and China and the eastern block over there beginning to form an alliance against the west. And of course, that has prophetic implications because in Daniel 11 we talk about the powers that be. The east, the north, the south, with no sign of the western powers even still there at the time of the end. And then we have this Israel attack. Then we have this terror organization Hamas who comes out and doesn't conduct warfare in the normal way of doing things. They do it in the most cowardly and hateful way imaginable.

They go in to a city. They kill babies. They kill parents. They kill citizens. They kill elderly citizens. They have no respect for any human life. There's absolutely nothing that they won't kill because they are just interested in killing. You know the Ukrainian war, Russia and Ukraine, we have the typical warfare. Power against power, military against military, soldiers against soldiers. Not that war is good. It's anything but. But terrorism is a terrible, terrible, terrible thing. God hates terrorism. And we can see that in the Bible. And of the things that we learn from this Israeli war, because this war is different than the Ukraine war. This war will, I don't know if I want to use the word teach, but for lack of a better word, teach the world some new things about how to conduct warfare. Terror, as I said, has taken a back seat in the world for the last number of years. But now it is alive and well. While Israel responds with rhetoric we haven't heard given in the world like it has, and rightfully so after what's been done, you know, in their country, we realize the prospect of terror and what it means. Let's go back to Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 25, because God talks about terrorism with a group of people that were known as the Amalekites, and they fought war in that cowardly fashion as well, picking on the week they were just interested in killing. Just interested in killing. In Deuteronomy 25, verse 17, as Moses is talking to Israel before they cross over into the Promised Land, he says this about Amalek, and I'll talk just really briefly about the Amalekites, but let me read verses 17 to 19 here in chapter 25. God inspired Moses to say, Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and reary, and he didn't fear God. You know, I talked a little bit about the fear of God during the feast, something you and I should never let out of our mind that we fear God and not man, and he didn't fear God. Therefore it shall be when the Lord your God is giving you rest from your enemies all around, and the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget. There are people whose mindset was completely, completely wrong, so saturated that God said they are an evil people. It's an evil thing that they do.

They can't be they can't be reclaimed in this life, and he mentions that that terror and Amalek, that they should be completely blotted out. A very difficult thing for some people to accept, that God would say that, but what he saw was here's an incorrigibly wicked, and they will have a chance when the second resurrection, when they are resurrected and able to see if they will grasp what God has said, that undo and unlearn the things that they have been learned, that they've been taught from childhood. Hate, hate, hate, hate. And so God said, block them out. A difficult thing to say, but God hates that. If we look at Proverbs 6, Proverbs 6 and verse 16, it lists for us some things that God hates. And as we look at those things, which we would all be mindful of, we see terror has their part in this. In verse 16, it says, these six things the Eternal hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him. A proud look. He hates pride. Of course, that's Satan's hallmark. He's so proud he can't even see that he cannot possibly defeat God. A proud look, a lying tongue. I know pride has its way in the world today. Lies are widespread in the world today. This world, as it says in 1 John 5, is under the sway of Satan. The proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. Isn't that what happened last week to an unsuspecting public in Israel? A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that are swift in running to evil. A false witness who speaks lies and one who sows discord among brethren. God hates those things.

He hates those things. They should never mark us. And certainly when we look at the world around us, we see all these things that God hates that are the mark of Satan's influence, that are the mark of his spirit extant in the world today. And so we have this prospect of terrorism that has shown its ugly face again. And it may be that it's quelled for a little bit, but even as you look at the news today with Hamas, you know there's also the threat of Hezbollah. We know that state over there in the Middle East is a hotbed of terrorism. It has been silent for a while, but we'll have its part in the time between now and the return of Jesus Christ. If we go back to Exodus 17, Amalek, the Amalekites says Israel was there in the promised land. They had to fight against Amalek. And in verse 14 of Exodus 17, God says this about Amalek, he says this to Moses in verse 14, he says, write this for a memorial in the book and recounted in the hearing of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. I will utterly block it out. And Moses built an altar and called its name. Excuse me. The Lord is my banner for he said because the eternal has sworn the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. They will hate. They will hate God. And they will hate the people of God.

They will hate the physical people of God. Satan knows well where physical Israel is and physical Judah is. And they'll hate the spiritual people of God too. They hate God. One morning this week, I just decided I was going to sit and listen to a number of news stations about what they were saying about this war and what what was being said about it. And all of them agree this is going to be a long-standing battle. Israel is very determined. You know, there was a report yesterday that their airlines allow never flies on Sabbath Saturday, but they were flying today because they are recalling 400,000 people from around the world who are Israeli citizens to come and fight in this battle. That's in addition to the people that they've mustered over there in Israel. They're serious about this. And of the people who were talking about the various reasons and the Palestinians and the quest for territory and whatever. One that I don't remember if it was a State Department person or a former Defense Department person, but he said he made a quote that is exactly what that makes sense and what's going on and makes this war so different. He said it's not about territory. Ukraine and Russia is about territory and control of a region. But with the terrorists, it's not about territory. It's about hate. They hate Israel. They hate America with a hate that we can't understand in the Western nations. And Iran has said that for years. They've chanted, death to America. They've been crystal clear. When we get the nuclear bomb, Israel is gone, right? Israel is gone. We hate them. They're not interested in the territory. They simply hate people that are identified as God's people. They have this inordinate hate that can't be explained, that we don't understand. And so God says, they're going to fight me. They're going to fight my people from generation to generation. That's just who they are. In 1 Samuel 15, you remember the story about Saul. When he was going to battle and God said to Saul, the first king, you know, go against the Amalekites and destroy everything they have. Don't even keep their sheep and their belongings for you. But Saul didn't do it. And I know years ago I gave a sermon here about the Amalekites and where they are today because Israel believes, you know, it's not every Palestinian that hates, but there's a group of them that hate. And all too often it's the radical end of a society or civilization that calls the shots and sets the stereotype for all of the people. But there is that element in the world today that just has this inordinate hate.

Terror will be part of the future. We go forward to Deuteronomy 32.

It's not something that's going to go away easily. It has made its mark and that bud has opened and it may be quelled for a bit, but it will not go away in Deuteronomy 32, which is a prophetic book, a prophetic chapter, that God gave Moses. In verse 15, I'll just read a few verses there, God says, Jeshurin, that's another name for Israel, you grew fat and kicked. You grew fat, you grew thick, you are obese. You are out of control. You're not seeing things correctly. And then he, Israel, forsook God who made him. And on Isaiah, God says to Israel, I made you, I created you, you're the people, you're the people who are supposed to show the example to the world of the goodness of God's way of life. He forsook God who made him and he scornfully esteemed the rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with foreign gods, with abominations, they provoked him to anger. And you can read through that and see, this is the type of time that we are living in right now. If we drop down to verse 22, God says, a fire is kindled in my anger because people have turned away from him, his people, and shall burn to the lowest hell. It will consume the earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap disasters on them, God said, because they turn from me, because they have become a wicked and evil people who are worshiping foreign gods and not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I'll heap disasters on them, I'll spend my arrows on them, they will be wasted with hunger, devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction. There you have some of the seals of revelation that are there. I will send against them the teeth of beasts with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword shall destroy outside, there shall be terror within. There shall be terror within for the young man and virgin, their nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

No regard, no mercy, no natural affection for everyone. Just kill. Just kill because we, terror, hates these people and they think they honor their God when they kill the people of God, physical or spiritual. Terror within. It says that also in Leviticus 26 verse 16, when it talks about a people who is God's people when they depart from his way, terror. Terror will be appointed over them. And we can see where that those rudiments of terror that have been largely absent from foreign nations in the last several years could be among us.

It has even been voiced on some of those news programs with the advent of terror and this threat by the leader of Hamas yesterday calling for jihad in every nation as they respond, that all of a sudden we live in a world that is so far different than it was three and a half years ago. Today we have people that we have no idea. Millions have been admitted to this country under the guise of open borders and that we have no idea who it is who now lives in this country.

Totally different than it was three and a half years ago. What has happened? What does that mean? What has man done to himself? What does it mean when God says there will be terror within?

These things we don't talk about so that we become afraid, so that we panic. We talk about these things because they're reality. When God says this happens, man has done it to himself, that we grow closer to God. Our trust is only in him. Salvation is only in him. We can trust in whatever government, whatever institution on earth, we will learn as God's people trust is only in him. And when we hear these things and see the reality of those buds beginning to open up on that prophetic tree, don't panic. Don't be dismayed. Turn to God.

Turn to God. Acknowledge him and ask him to give you the strength and express your faith in him because it will be only him that sees us through. So we see terror that has shown itself in the world again, and we also have the rhetoric that has come out of Israel. The president over there continues to make the things about how Israel, not Israel, terror needs to be eliminated. As I listened to some of those newscasts that morning, and they were interviewing some Israeli citizens, they talked about, well, we used to think that a two-state solution was it, but after last Saturday, we don't believe a two-state solution is the answer anymore. Terror needs to be eliminated from the world.

And it's interesting when you hear them say that, because it is an awful, awful thing. Make no mention about that. God has a plan of salvation for all of man, woman, and child. But what goes on in that God hates? If we look at Daniel 11, we see at the time of the end something I've turned to before, and we look at this more and more and see it beginning to happen. And Daniel 11, and in verse 40, talks about the time of the end.

Daniel 11, verse 40, says, at the time of the end, the king of the south. Well, the king of the south, the Bible talks about things from the south side with the Mediterranean as a center. You have the area south of the Mediterranean. You have the area north of the Mediterranean. You have basically Europe. You basically have the Middle East on the south side of the Mediterranean. Then you have the east where Russia, China, and those are concerned. At the time of the end, God says, the king of the south will attack him. That's the king of the north. The king of the south, those nations there will attack Europe. This beast power that we won't take the time to talk about, because we've talked about it many times in the past in Revelation 13. At the time of the end, the king of the south will attack him, and the king of the north will come against him like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He will also enter the glorious land. That would be Jerusalem in that area. He will also enter the glorious land, and many countries will be overthrown. But these will escape from his hand, Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. That's the area Jordan today. He will stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. And so we have the king of the north that marches through the king of the south, and basically when you read the other minor prophets that talk about the destruction of the people in that area, they are... they become not a power anymore. They have a kingdom at the end. You notice there is no west. America is notably absent, and the western powers are notably absent in this prophecy in Daniel 11. Judah isn't mentioned. Someone else will be in that glorious land, not Judah. And so we have these powers that be, and in an area that is known for terrorism, the king of the north pretty much overthrows them all. And then you add in the prophecies and the other minor prophets, and you get a picture of what it is. Will it be because of terrorism? Will the same thing be used there? And the only way to eliminate that threat in the earth is to just eliminate the population. The very same thing that Israel is saying today.

Perhaps. Perhaps that's what God has in mind. You know, when you look at prophecy, we're in the book of Daniel. Let's go forward one book to Hosea. In Hosea 5 and verse 5, another one of the minor prophets, we call them there, written at the same time as the book of Isaiah. Hosea was a contemporary of Hosea. And this prophecy is for the end time as well. In chapter 5, actually, the whole book of Hosea is a very interesting read in the light of what's going on in the world today and what we've learned in the last few years. You know, as we do our online Bible studies, we're nearing the completion of Isaiah. Maybe Hosea that we go into next that talks a lot about Israel and the time of the Imbedo. Hosea 5 and verse 4, it says, they, speaking of Israel and Ephraim and Judah, you know, the little nation of Israel that's over there in the Middle East, they don't direct their deeds to returning to their God. For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst and they don't know God. Verse 5, the pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore, Israel and Ephraim, you know, the new King James says, stumble. The old King James and the strongs indicate that means fall. Therefore, Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity.

They cease to exist. Judah, that would be little Israel over there, also falls with them.

Verse 7, they've dealt treacherously with God. They've departed from Him. They've introduced things into their culture that are heinous, even to large parts of the world. Things so totally different than even human norms. They have dealt treacherously with the Eternal. They don't want Him. They will war against people who believe God, who believe the Bible, who try to live by those standards. They have dealt treacherously with the Eternal. They have begotten pagan or strange children. They're teaching their children evil things. Now a new moon shall devour them and their heritage. Commonly, a new moon is within 30 days. Those powers fall because of what they've done to God. And when you read Daniel, a later prophecy, you see they're nowhere there. They're no longer mentioned there. And so we have this rhetoric of terrorism. And what's going on? And terrorism will be part of the future. It simply will be part of it. That bud has opened up. I guess the other thing that we've seen in this war is the return of the siege mentality. You know, Israel, CNN reported that Israel, they called it a... I want to just quote exactly what they said. They called it a complete siege of Gaza. The Israel ordered a complete siege, cutting off food, electricity, fuel, and water supplies. Now that's something we haven't really heard before. We've seen different types of warfare emerge over the last several years. We have sanctions that are levied against people so that they can't access their their accounts, right? Russia, there's sanctions on them, there's sanctions on Iran, there's sanctions against other countries, and that has had some modicum of success. We've read about cyber attacks, and as we become a more computer-dependent people and world, cyber attacks can disrupt airline schedules. It can disrupt just about anything you mean, and there can be all these attacks that happen in that way. We have different kinds of warfare that have happened that are different names. They don't kill people, but we've seen these things happen. But here we have this siege mentality that Israel has stressed upon Gaza, and when you read the reports, it's beginning to have its effect. It is amazing when you think about it that governments and governments have such control over us that all the basic necessities of life they can switch off with just a flick of a switch. If someone wants to flick off our electricity, they can do it. They want to cut off our food supplies, they can do it. They want to kick off water supplies. We're all dependent on the water companies for what we do. We are a people, the world is a people, that can have this happen to them in a very successful way. And you know that in times past, sieges worked. That was the way of modern or not or then modern warfare. Cut off the supplies. The people will either starve to death or they will capitulate and give in.

And so we see this mark of the beast and the punishment that the mark of the beast could wield, not just in buying and selling, but even in all these other things that we have become used to.

It's hard to imagine life without electricity. It's hard to imagine life without fuel. It's hard to imagine life without turning on a faucet and having water there. But all those things could happen. All those things could happen and the people in Gaza are experiencing that. Don't know they have expected it, but they're experiencing it. Likewise in Guatemala in the feast, there was no bullets flying in this protest. There was no threat of human life, but these blockades that were set up in all the cities around Guatemala, and it wasn't just one city where the feast was, but every single city from what we have been able to determine in a political protest over a contested election, that these blockades were set up. People can't get in and they can't get out.

There was even a threat early on about food supplies being restricted to force their will upon the government. Now that seems to have eased a little bit, and talking with them yesterday, food doesn't seem to be an issue. It's just you can't get in and can't get out some of the people that are remaining there. But the siege mentality has entered the world, and it can have an effect on you and me, and it tells us those possibilities of things that we take for granted that could just disappear with the flip of a switch because someone doesn't like what you think.

Or as your country, they don't like what you stand for. So we see this siege mentality, and we see it in the Bible as well. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 20. God talks about sieges. Deuteronomy 20. Let's just read verse 12 in Deuteronomy 20. God talks about it as they're going to enter into the Promised Land and these cities that they come and they're going to conquer with. He says, if you go to the city, offer them peace. Offer them peace. Verse 12. But if the city will not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall be siege it. This is how you can have them yield. You have control. Besiege it. You've seen, I'm sure, the movies, the ancient movies, the story of Masada, the siege that occurred there and what that resulted in. In Deuteronomy 28, we see sieges as part of the future again in a very graphic, and I'm not going to read the graphic words that are there. I'm going to let you read some of the verses intervening here in Deuteronomy 28. But in Deuteronomy 28, God says, if you obey me, these are the blessings that will inure to you. But if you depart from me, this is what's going to happen to you. Let's pick it up in verse 47.

Yeah, 47. Because you didn't serve the eternal your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies.

Who the eternal will send against you? You will serve them in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything, and he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. The eternal will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, which doesn't respect the elderly or show favor to the young. What type of people is that? And they will eat the increase of your livestock, the produce of your land, until you are destroyed. They won't leave you grain or all of these other things. Verse 52, they will be seed you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trust come down throughout all your land, and they will be seed you at all your gates throughout your land, which the Lord your God has given you. And then he goes on and he describes some very difficult images as he warns us what will come about as a result of the nations turning from God. In Zechariah 12, Zechariah 12, second to the last book in the Old Testament.

Zechariah 12 and verse 2 talks about, of course, Zechariah, we know, is a prophetic book. I'm going to go ahead and read one because God continues to recount who he is, that he has control, and the words that he says are sure to happen. The burden of the word of the eternal against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. In that time, that will come when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.

In Luke 21, it talks about when armies surround Jerusalem. It's no longer the Jews who are in control of Jerusalem at that time. It's the armies of the world who have taken control of it. And God says, when those armies are there, it's time. It's time. The time is near.

Those things we can begin to see the buds open. The fruit will be there pretty soon. Whatever time it is, I'm not setting any dates here at all, God will have that tree in full bloom.

And it's our job to be ready for that time. Now, I want to draw your attention to one story of a siege that shows the power of God at his deliverance. Because, again, some of the things we talk about when we talk about those prophecies can look like, wow, how will we survive it? How will it happen? Well, God can do anything. Let's turn back to 2 Kings 6.

In 2 Kings 6, we have a siege against the people of Israel.

And chapter 6 comes on the heels of the story about Naaman and the healing of him from leprosy when he just does what God says for him to do. Comes on the heels of the story where a man loses his axe head in the water. And that was a very valuable, valuable instrument at that time. And then God allows that axe to float so the man can recoup it. And in chapter 6, we see the siege. Let's pick it up in verse 24. It says in verse 24, it happened after this that Ben Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his army and they went up and they besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver. In a time when food is scarce and a siege is there, food becomes very valuable.

Might remind us of that third horseman, right, in Revelation, when all this food costs the whole day's wages because it has become so scarce. How does it become scarce?

Anyway, a donkey said was sold for eighty shekels of silver and one-fourth of a cab of dog droppings for five shekels of silver. Then as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him saying, Help, my lord, O king. Not going to read. You can read verses 27, 28, 29 there and see what goes on there. It's a terrible thing to think about that any human being would ever be put in that situation, but how desperate they become in a time of siege. If I drop down to chapter 7 and verse 1, Elisha the prophet said, Hear the word of the Lord. God says, Tomorrow about this time a sea of five flower will be sold for a shekel and two sea of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. Here they are in famine. Donkey's heads are selling for this inordinate amount of money, but Elisha says, Tomorrow morning basically grain is going to be like free for the taking. And so an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this possibly be, Come on, what are you telling us? You want us to believe that we're starving to death here and doing unspeakable, unthinkable things? And then tomorrow there's going to be food in plenty? Could this thing be? And he said, In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you, because you doubted God, will not eat of it. And so if we drop down to verse six, we see what God did. Here the Syrians are besieging it. And in verse six, God, whose thoughts are far above our thoughts, his ways are far above our ways, things that we can't even imagine he does know. And we can't even in our hearts even begin to think just like the Israelites could not possibly have thought of the Red Sea opening and them passing through it to safety from the pursuing Egyptian army.

Look what God does. The Lord caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army, so that they said to one another, look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us. So they arose and fled a twilight and left the camp intact. Their tents, horses, and their donkeys. And they fled for their lives. And so there is these four people out there who see all of a sudden the camp just empty and all this food everywhere.

And so they go out and eat it. And indeed, it is exactly what God said. The next day, grain was there for anyone who wanted it. The lesson. Always have faith in God.

Things may look bleak. Things may look tough. Always have faith in God. He promises he will deliver. He promises he will see us through. Always have faith in God. We may not know how. We may not know when. But we know his promises are sure.

I'm going to look at my clock here and see what time it is.

And I'm out of time, but I want to just take another few minutes here to talk just about a few things, to put some thoughts into your mind that you can do as we've come out of the feast. Now, this thing with Israel, what's going on over there? It doesn't mean the end is here yet. Christ says it's the beginning of sorrows. It's the bud on the tree. Is it something that will be with us? Yes, it may and flow. But we know what the Bible says and where it is happening. What do we do? Do we panic? No. Do we fear? No. Do we turn from God and trust in people? No. We turn to him in times of stress, in times of the things that we want, that we're looking for God to do. Let me take five minutes and go through some things as we've come out of the Feast of Tabernacles into a world that's different today than it was when we left for the Feast of Tabernacles and show you a few things at the Church of God, the people of God, individually and collectively what we need to be doing. Leviticus 24. I talked about this last week on the eighth day in Estes Park, but I'm just going to recount here just briefly because I want all of the people of the Church to be looking to God and doing the things that he says to do. It's very interesting in chapter 24, Leviticus 24, right after he talks about the Feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus 23, and he talks about the temporary dwellings and the things that we do there. And you talk your feast, I'm sure, about all those things. And in chapter 24, he talks about the things that they should do in the Tabernacle and in the temple. You and I know that today God isn't in a temple built with hands, but he is working with you and me individually and collectively as his Church to build the temple Christ will return to. Chapter 24, verse 1. Then, after he talks about the Feast, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil, oppressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually.

The congregation was to bring the oil. Now, I don't think I have to draw the line to Matthew 25, about the 10 virgins, and five of them had some oil. The other five had fallen soundly asleep, and they had no oil for their lamps. The congregation brings the oil. We know what the oil is. God gives us the Holy Spirit. We follow him. We yield to him. We let him grow us. And you, the congregation, together brings that oil so that the lamps continually burn.

God's Church should be an everlasting light to the world. Christ says in Matthew 5, Let your light so shine before men that they see God and glorify him. More important than ever, it was always important, but just to stress it, that we let our light shine. We are living the way of God. We are learning the way of God. We are letting God mold us into the blamelessness that he wants us to be. That we are lights to the world. The congregation brings the oil. The light gets lit. Every single one of us have that part in that ever-burning lamp that God wants us to be displaying. We go back to Exodus 30. Exodus 30. Interesting, because in Exodus 27, it's the first time that God talks about the ever-burning lamps that are supposed to be on in the temple. He mentions it again right after the Feast of Tabernacles, but in Exodus 30, the next thing that is supposed to be ever happening in the Church of God, in the temple that he's building. Exodus 30 verse 8. When Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, when he lights those lamps because they're supposed to be ever-burning, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the eternal throughout your generations. You can write down Psalm 141 verse 2. David says, his prayer, our prayers, are as incense before God. Revelation 5.3 talks about the prayers of the saints, these golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints come up before God, how long, how long before Christ returns. The heartfelt, sincere prayers to God that go up from his congregation. That incense, that is a sweet-smelling aroma to God when he sees that our hearts, our words, our lives are yielded to him and that we are praying to him. Just not repetition prayers, not just words, but from our heart. Talking to him, asking him, teach us, guide us, lead us, show me the errors of my ways, give me more of your spirit, help me to become who you want me to become. That those prayers, prayers for others when we pray for healing, that God wants us to be praying for those things, that incense that's supposed to be ever burning. You know the scriptures what says, pray without ceasing. Be in contact with God. Let me give you Psalm 122 verse 6 in the context of Jerusalem and what we see going on today and in the prophecies that show what's going to happen to Jerusalem down the end. Psalm 122 verse 6 says, pray, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Thy kingdom come because there will be peace in Jerusalem only when Jesus Christ returns.

So oil, continually supplying the oil, keep the lamps burning, always have that prayer, that incense going up before God. The prayers, don't neglect that. And Leviticus 6 God talks about the ever burning fire. Leviticus 6 verse 12.

And as you read through those things, you see that these altars, the altar of incense, the only thing that happened at the altar of incense was incense was burnt on it. And it was right outside the holy of holies that Aaron went into only on the day of atonement. Leviticus 6 verse 12 says, And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not be put out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning and lay the burnt offering in order on it, and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. A fire shall always be burning on the altar. It shall never go out. Don't let the fire ever go out. I hope we all came back with the fire in our hearts for God's way, for God's will, to get his work done, to do what he wants us to do. Don't let that fire go out. Don't let the cares of the world. Don't let the whatever the world tells you put that fire out. Never doubt God. Keep that fire burning. Keep it alive and well. It's God who ignited that fire in you. When you repented, when you responded to his call, when you were baptized, when you received the Holy Spirit, it's his fire. Let that fire lead you. Let that Holy Spirit lead you and keep it always burning. When you feel like it's going out, do everything you can with the spiritual tools God gave you to keep that fire burning. We will need that fire burning for all of us. Let me conclude in Hebrews 10. Those of you here in Orlando and other places, hear me quote this, but you know one of the ways that we keep that fire burning and our lights shining bright and that incense that goes up to God is by what we do every Sabbath, every holy day, and every time, and the Feast of Tabernacles, the holy convocations that God expects us to be at because there are invaluable lessons and benefits of being together with people of like mind in God's presence where he told us to be. Verse 24, let us consider Hebrews 10, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works that we will ignite that fire when we see someone where the fire may be languishing encourage them get them back pick up the phone call send an email where are you come back to and don't lose what God has given to us let us consider one another that means be mindful of them build that agape that love for one another as we are all family in order to stir up love and good works not forsaking not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching the day is approaching only God knows when all we can see the buds and we know when we see those buds on the prophetic tree appearing the time is near and that time is for us to draw closer to God put more and more of our faith and trust in him and allow him to lead us it has been great to be here with all of you you and my thoughts you are in my thoughts and prayers you and Jacksonville church and God's people around the world day to day keep those fires burning keep those fires burning may God be with all of you