ROD OF GOD COMES TO BEING PEACE – Part 6
Rejected Son Returns as Judgment Rod to Bring Peace to Us!
January 16, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Psalm 2:7-9 – I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
[8] Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. [9] Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Revelation 19:15 – And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should SMITE THE NATIONS: and he shall rule them with a ROD OF IRON: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
God gave the law to Israel through Moses in order that they might turn to the Rock which was following them at the time he gave it.
I Corinthians 10:4 – And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
The law was straightforward in its bluntness, and was to cause individual Israelites to see the impossibility of measuring up to God’s standard of righteousness.
It was designed to make them throw up their hands to the heavens and cry out: God be merciful to me a sinner. If the law had not been changed, watered down, such that a man might actually believe he could keep all of it, and thereby be considered righteous before God, then much of Israel might have been converted to belief that only the Messiah,
acting alone, could save individuals and the nation from spiritual and physical destruction. But by the time that Messiah appeared, Israel did not look for a Messiah to save souls, because they had the law to do that – they were looking for a great military leader sent by God to raise a great army, to drive the Romans out of their land, and to restore greatness to Israel as in the days of King David. Israel had forgotten the law as God gave it, and had so watered down the severity of it, that men and women actually believed they could keep all of it and go to heaven. They did not remember the law as it was originally given and, because this was true, the law could not fulfill its role as schoolmaster to lead them to Messiah the Christ as their only hope of going to heaven, being justified by faith in him alone and not in their ability to make themselves righteous by keeping the law.
James 2:10 – For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Galatians 3:24 – Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Israel did not remember the law of Moses. Had they done so, it would have caused the nation to recognize the Messiah as their only hope of salvation, and they would have been led to receive him as the promised one when he came. It was one of the last things the Prophet Malachi delivered to them as a warning – To remember the Law of Moses as it was originally given. Even Moses spoke of the future promised Seed in the Law.
Deuteronomy 18:18,19 – I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and HE SHALL SPEAK UNTO THEM ALL THAT I SHALL COMMAND HIM. [19] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he
shall speak in my name, I WILL REQUIRE IT OF HIM.
John 12:49,50 – For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. [50] And I know that HIS COMMANDMENT IS LIFE EVERLASTING: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
John 5:39,40 – Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are THEY WHITCH TESTIFY OF ME. [40] AND YE WILL NOT COME TO ME, THAT YE MIGHT HAVE LIFE.
Galatians 3:18-23 – For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
[19] Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it w
as ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
[20] Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. [22] But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. [23] But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
They did not remember the law of Moses as it was first given, because they watered it down to the point the nation’s leaders believed they could keep it perfectly. So who would be led to receive the Christ when he did arrive? Who needed him if they could be accepted by God through keeping the law of Moses?
Malachi 4:4-6 – Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. [5] Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: [6] And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, LEST I COME AND SMITE THE EARTH WITH A CURSE.
Revelation 19:15A – And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, THAT WITH IT HE SHOULD SMITE THE NATIONS:
God sent John the Baptist as the first Elijah. And he was received as such by those believing his testimony of the coming Messiah. Then the Messiah came preaching the same message as John. John was beheaded and Christ was rejected and crucified. The heart of the fathers did not turn to the children, and the heart of the children did not turn to the fathers when they received the words of John and of Christ, nor or they doing so now. So the smiting curse of the tribulation period is coming on this earth. It is vividly described in the verses preceding Malachi 4:4-6. Those who have feared his name, and turned to Messiah as their only hope, will be blessed by Messiah, and will be healed in the shadow of his wings, and he will fully provide for them as his children of the 1000 year reign.
Malachi 4:1-3 – For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
[2] But unto YOU THAT FEAR MY NAME shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. [3] And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
Religious Jews are still trying to keep the law of Moses to go to heaven, rather than letting it teach them they cannot possibly measure up to the standard of God’s righteousness, and thereby directing them to the coming Messiah as their only hope.
They did not believe the first Elijah sent to them, and most will not believe the second Elijah who will come to them as one of the two witnesses of Revelation 11.
Very few of the Jews walked continuously with Messiah during his First Advent, and most will not believe he is Messiah until it is too late. The reward awaiting those who have, and who shall, is worth considering in Luke 22:28-30 and Revelation 20:4.
Luke 22:28-30 – Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. [29] And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; [30] That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Revelation 20:4 – And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Messiah gave Israel up at the close of his First Advent, but promised to return to them after the travail of the tribulation period, after which he will protect them with his shepherd’s rod as he leads and feeds them.
Matthew 23:37-39 – O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
[39] For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Micah 5:3,4 – Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. [4] And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
Micah 7:14-20 – Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. [15] According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things. [16] The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
[17] They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee. [18] Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression OF THE REMNANT OF HIS HERITAGE? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. [19] He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. [20] Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, WHICH THOU HAST SWORN UNTO OUR FATHERS FROM THE DAYS OF OLD.
Romans 2:28,29 – For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: [29] But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Romans 4:1-8 – What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? [2] For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
[3] For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. [4] Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
[5] But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. [6] Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, [7] Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. [8] Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Micah 7:18-20 – Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of THE REMNANT OF HIS HERITAGE? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. [19] He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. [20] Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, WHICH THOU HAST SWORN UNTO OUR FATHERS FROM THE DAYS OF OLD.
There will be a second Elijah in the Negev wilderness with Israel after two-thirds have perished in the initial Islamic Jihad against Israel.
And most of the surviving one-third will turn their hearts to the gospel of the Seed delivered to their father Abraham, and to their fathers who followed him.
Zechariah 13:8,9 – 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.
Malachi 4:6 – And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children TO THEIR FATHERS, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Micah 7:20 – Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn UNTO OUR FATHERS FROM THE DAYS OF OLD. .
I Corinthians 15:58 – Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.