BIRTH PANG NUMBER 42
The Remnant of Israel, Past, Present, and Future!
Part 7
March 29, 2002
Revelation 12:6,15,16
[6] And the woman fled into the wilderness, where
she hath a place prepared of God, that they should
feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. [15] And the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her
to be carried away of the flood. [16] And the earth helped the woman, and the
earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of
his mouth.
I have already exposited on all the verses prior to
verses 15 and 16 in Parts 1 through 6 of previous Birth Pang Updates. The woman, Israel, has received a population
decrease of two-thirds, evacuated the city of Jerusalem, and is in the act of
fleeing into the Israeli land south of Beersheva,
which is the Negev. But the
Scriptures indicate that this remnant will one day return, and at that time
they will call God their God, and He will once again call them His people. The “residue” (remnant) will not be “cut off”
from Jerusalem forever, but will come
north out of the Negev, following the battle of
Armageddon, to retake the city.
Zechariah 13:8 to 14:2
[8] And it shall come to pass, that in all the land,
saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off
and die; but the third shall be left therein. [9] And I will bring the third
part through 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, The Lord is my God. [1] Behold, the
day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
[2] 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.
The confederation of 10 nations, led by antichrist,
is moving like a rolling flood in hot pursuit of Israel in verses 15 and 16. The word “flood” is used several times in the
Old Testament to refer to an army advancing like a flood. One use is in Jeremiah 46:8.
Jeremiah 46:8
[8] Egypt riseth
up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I
will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the
inhabitants thereof.
The
antichrist has been brought down by God to drive Israel into the Negev.
Ezekiel 38:3,4,14-17
[3] And say, Thus saith
the Lord God; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the
chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
[4] And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring
thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen,
all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a
great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: [14]
Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog,
Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people
of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt
thou not know it? [15] And thou shalt come from thy
place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them
riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: [16] And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to
cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against
my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. [17] Thus saith
the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the
prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would
bring thee against them?
Revelation 12:16
[16] And the earth helped the woman, and the earth
opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his
mouth.
After God has put hooks into antichrist’s jaws to
bring him into Israel, the Devil is cast out of
heaven, and immediately directs the antichrist’s armies southward from Jerusalem toward the entrance city to
the Negev, namely Beersheva. Across southern Israel, from Hebron to Beersheva,
are numerous topographical folds in the rock strata oriented northeast to
southwest, and in these folds are hinge faults with the same orientation. This type of fault is capable of suddenly
opening during the occurrence of earthquake activity. An army passing through this zone in hot
pursuit, if large earthquakes suddenly rippled through it from Israel’s Arabah
Fault in the Jordan Valley, could suffer many
casualties by being swallowed up in it.
This is probably the earthquake that begins the last 3 and ˝ years of
the Tribulation Period, which occurs on the opening of the 6th Seal.
Revelation 6:12-17
[12] And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal,
and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of
hair, and the moon became as blood;
Ezekiel 38:18,19
[18] And it
shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall
come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God,
that my fury shall come up in my face. [19] For in my jealousy and in the fire
of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in
the land of Israel;
Once the series of earthquakes have depleted his
army, the antichrist, who will know the strength of Israel in the Negev, will
halt his advance at Beersheva, and head for
Egypt. This will leave between 1.7 and
1.9 Million Israelis trapped in the Negev for about 3 and ˝ years.
Daniel 11:43
[43] But he shall have power over the treasures of
gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans
and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
In our next update, Lord willing, we will close
Chapter 12 with verse 17, discussing this “remmant”
of the woman’s “seed” that exhibits what true churches teach today.
Revelation 12:17
[17] And the
dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her
seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ.