Time of Times

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.

² Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.

³ Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.

⁴ See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.

⁵ Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
⁷ Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.

⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

¹² You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.

¹³ Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”

Isaiah 55:1-13

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Concerning the season of time, or epoch, we now find ourselves. When the certain time comes it may not be as readily evident as we envisioned (interpreted, assumed). Even so, we can be well prepared as instructed in His word.

A voice says, “Cry out.”

I said, “What shall I cry?”

“The word of our God

    stands forever.”

“Behold your God!”

Isaiah 40:6,8,9b

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“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand” Rev. 14:9

Considering the angel first mentions the Beast’s worship, “mark on the forehead” that follows may represent the mind. That would pertain to all who accept and commit themselves to the lies and propaganda of the beast. “Mark On the hand” could describe willful action in obedience to the beast. A person’s actions follow a belief system embraced when acted upon. Their hearts will be hardened beyond redemption. To “receive the mark” has the meaning of ownership. This is the same purpose of branding cattle in the marketplace. If I may say, the “mark” does not necessarily need to be a physical mark only. It could also be an indelible “branding” of a hardened heart, mind, and soul. (Consider Ezekiel 9:1-5 with special interest to vs.4. It is not likely the mark to be placed as instructed by God to this spiritual being was a physical mark, but spiritual.)

Be that as it may, we know none can follow and obey Christ and the beast conjointly. [¹⁴Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?]^{2 Corinthians 6:14-15} The winnowing will faithfully occur.

The book of Revelation seems likely to have been revealed in the spiritual language of the Spirit. John did his best to translate into human language when told to record events he witnessed (“write down”). If so, the Holy Spirit will interpret for us as needed, imparting at the moments of necessity when coming face to face with whatever is coming toward us. This appears to be His way throughout the bible.

It would seem that we have been given a large beginning of understanding, optioned to us between the years 2016-2020. Much initial information has been revealed through those years’ events – culminating by way of occurrences in 2020.

With prudence and discernment, we can see the direction of coming events. God’s people have been prepared to do the Lord’s will. The physical/spiritual war belongs to God. Our obedience to the message as recoded in the Oracles of God is our responsibility to His Majesty. We must remain alert always for the Holy Spirit’s whispering directives, watchful in prayer, and sifting the bible.

Having searched exhaustively, to put it simply, I find the bible unclear as to the timing of the Resurrection of the Living (termed by some the “Rapture”). Whether before, during, or after the final tribulation remains among the secret things for now. This is understandable considering the Lord’s words in Luke 12:39, and Matthew 24:43. However, I do believe the stage is well set and the lawless one^{(2 Thess. 1:8)} is in the world now. Whatever eventuality must be faced don’t panic. Do TRUST GOD. “in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”^{(Isaiah 30:15)}

Suppose one thinks he is knowledgeable about the bible. In that case, one may face more danger because assumptions about anything is a danger itself. Please. Don’t gang agley about poring over the bible daily regardless of how much you know. We must remain open to surprise, for God’s ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts than our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Not to worry though. When God takes us by surprise He has already prepared for that, too. He is a very detail oriented Savior. Not one of the Good Shepherd’s sheep will be lost.

~G.W.

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*Noted reference: Ezekiel 9:1-4:

³ Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the ^[d]temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; ⁴ and the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” NKJV]

This noted passage above takes place in the spiritual realm as witnessed by Ezekiel. [In this case, per verse six, God tells the spirit beings (angels) to allow no harm to those with His mark on their foreheads.]

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