TRUST THE
PLAN
August 2019
In these days of turmoil and chaos around the world, where can
we find hope and promise of a good and even great future?
Proverbs 24:13-14 The Passion
Translation (TPT) 13 Revelation-knowledge is a delicacy, sweet like flowing
honey that melts in your mouth. Eat as much of it as you can, my friend! 14 For then you will perceive what is true
wisdom,
your future will be bright,[f] and this hope living within will never disappoint you.
your future will be bright,[f] and this hope living within will never disappoint you.
Hope and a good future are to be found in the LORD. Knowing
the PLAN is where we can find comfort, hope, and peace in the midst of the
storms that are coming to the planet earth.
[Jer 29:11 NASB] 11 'For I know the
plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for
calamity to give you a future and a hope.
So, just what is “THE PLAN”?
The plan is laid out in the Word of God, the Bible. It
begins in Genesis where God creates mankind. God was seeking a being of His
likeness and kind to be His companion, someone to love Him and to be close as
to be one with Him, as close as a wife. There was a test of this love in the
Garden of Eden. Mankind was given a choice to obey God because of love for Him
or seek to know good and evil so as to be like God.
[Gen 1:26-27 NASB] 26 Then God
said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let
them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the
cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them.
[Gen 2:7 NASB] Then the LORD God
formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living being.
[Gen 2:16 NASB] The LORD God
commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat
freely;
[Gen 2:17 NASB] but from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you
eat from it you will surely die."
Mankind failed the test and was expelled from the Garden.
[Gen
3:3 NASB] but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden,
God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"
[Gen
3:4 NASB] The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!
[Gen
3:5 NASB] "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
But Eve and Adam
did eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
[Gen
3:22 NASB] Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of
Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take
also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"--
[Gen
3:23 NASB] therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to
cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
[Gen
3:24 NASB] So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He
stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to
guard the way to the tree of life.
Now, expelled from
the Garden and no longer able to eat from the tree of life, death and sin came
into the world of mankind.
Throughout the
years of the Old Testament this was the condition of mankind. God however did
not give up on mankind. He chose an ethnic group of people called the Hebrews
to be His special people on the earth. He even likened them to a wife. They
went through many cycles of being obedient, then falling away but eventually
God divorced Israel and initiated a new phase of the plan. The book of Hosea is
the story of God’s dealings with Israel and Jacob throughout the ages. It is an
important part of the plan with regards to Israel and Judah.
God, in the person
of a man called Jesus, the Son of God, came to the earth to redeem mankind from
the sentence of death, which was the just penalty for rejecting God through
disobedience and sin, (sin - to miss or wander from the
path of uprightness and honor, to do or go wrong, to wander from the law of God, violate God's
law).
Jesus paid the price for all mankind’s sin through His death
and resurrection. Now redemption, salvation, and regeneration were available to
all who would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Those that accept Jesus as their Lord and
Savior are born again by the Spirit of God and become a new creation though
still having to deal with their old, fleshly body and all of its passions and
lusts.
[Jhn 3:5 NASB] Jesus answered,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
[Jhn 3:6 NASB] "That which is
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
[Jhn 3:7 NASB] "Do not be
amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
[Jhn 3:8 NASB] "The wind blows
where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes
from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
[1Pe 1:23 NASB] for you have been
born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, [that is,] through
the living and enduring word of God.
[2Co 5:17 NASB] Therefore if anyone
is in Christ, [he is] a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new
things have come.
Yet this new creature or creation still had to deal with the
old, sinful nature of fallen mankind.
[Rom 7:5 NASB] For while we were in
the flesh, the sinful passions, which were [aroused] by the Law, were at work
in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
[Rom 7:24 NASB] Wretched man that I
am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
[Rom 7:25 NASB] Thanks be to God
through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind
am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Even in this condition, those who proclaim Jesus as the Son
of God, their Lord and Savior, are now called saints, His Church, His Bride. Born
again by His Spirit, and anointed by His Spirit with His power and authority,
these born-again followers of Jesus were sent out into all the world to be His
ambassadors on earth. Today, this unique
group of human beings are aliens on this earth. No longer citizens of the
kingdom of this world, but citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. They are people
living in a fleshly body, but born again spiritually by the Spirit of God and
anointed by the Spirit with power to be His witnesses in all the world.
[Act 1:8 NASB] 8 but you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My
witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the
remotest part of the earth."
[Mat 28:19 NASB] "Go therefore
and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
[Mat 28:20 NASB] teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age."
Today, believers find themselves at this stage of the plan.
Today, believers are a pure, eternal spirit living in a corruptible and
perishing human body. In this world, these believers are to expect to be
persecuted, have tribulation, and many will even have to die physically for
their faith in Jesus.
[Jhn 16:33 NASB] "These things
I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have
tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
[Jhn 15:20 NASB] "Remember the
word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they
persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will
keep yours also.
But the plan does not end here. At some point in time Jesus
promises to return to the earth to collect His Church, His Bride and take them
to Heaven. At this very time, all believers will be transformed, the perishing,
corruptible body will become an eternal, incorruptible body, a body like the
one Jesus appeared in when He walked out of that tomb some 2000 years ago.
[1Co 15:51 NASB] Behold, I tell you
a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
[1Co 15:52 NASB] in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and
the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
[1Co 15:53 NASB] For this
perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on
immortality.
[1Co 15:54 NASB] But when this
perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on
immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS
SWALLOWED UP in victory.
Believers in Jesus are God’s sons and daughters, the temple
of the Holy Spirit on Earth, the Bride of Jesus, the Lamb’s wife, co-ruler,
co-sovereign, co-administrator, a judicially equal partner to
the Throne by virtue of redemption and wedlock to
The King of Kings, Jesus.
co-sovereign, co-administrator, a judicially equal partner to
the Throne by virtue of redemption and wedlock to
The King of Kings, Jesus.
Believers are Destined for the Throne!
[Rev 2:26-27 ESV] 26 The one who
conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority
over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen
pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my
Father.
[Revelation 3:21 NKJV] 21 "To
him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame
and sat down with My Father on His throne.
About this time on earth, God will turn His attention back
to the Hebrews (Israel) to complete His covenant promises to them. There will
be a time of trouble (tribulation) on earth like it has never seen before. It
is a time the Bible calls “the day of the Lord” It will be a time of testing,
judgment, and the wrath of God. It will be a time of unprecedented natural
disasters, war, and the rise to power of a world leader who will in the end, be
Satan embodied. It is called “the time of Jacob’s trouble”. Some will be saved
by confessing Jesus as the Messiah, by the Blood of Jesus, their testimony, and
by not living their lives, even unto death. But just as all seems lost and
mankind is about to destroy itself, Jesus, as the Lord of lords and King of
kings, returns to the earth with His people, His Saints, to end the
destruction, and deal with sinners and Satan alike.
[Isa 13:9 NASB] 9 Behold, the day
of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a
desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
[Joe 1:15 NASB] 15 Alas for the
day! For the day of the LORD is near, And it will come as destruction from the
Almighty.
[Joe 3:14 NASB] 14 Multitudes,
multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the
valley of decision.
[2Pe 3:7 NASB] 7 But by His word
the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of
judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
[Rom 2:5 NASB] 5 But because of
your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself
in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
[Rev 6:12-17 NASB] 12 I looked when
He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became
black as sackcloth [made] of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and
the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs
when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it
is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15
Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich
and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and
among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the
rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has
come, and who is able to stand?"
[Jer 30:4, 7, 11, 22-24 NASB] 4 Now
these are the words which the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning
Judah: ... 7 'Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the
time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it. ... 11 'For I am with
you,' declares the LORD, 'to save you; For I will destroy completely all the
nations where I have scattered you, Only I will not destroy you completely. But
I will chasten you justly And will by no means leave you unpunished.' ... 22
'You shall be My people, And I will be your God.'" 23 Behold, the tempest
of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, A sweeping tempest; It will burst on the
head of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He
has performed and until He has accomplished The intent of His heart; In the
latter days you will understand this.
[Rev 12:11 NASB] 11 "And they
overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their
testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
[Rev 19:11-16 NASB] 11 And I saw heaven
opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it [is] called Faithful
and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes [are] a
flame of fire, and on His head [are] many diadems; and He has a name written
[on Him] which no one knows except Himself. 13 [He is] clothed with a robe
dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies
which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white [and] clean, were following
Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He
may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He
treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His
robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF
LORDS."
Jesus returns to the earth to establish His Kingdom on
earth. He returns with His Bride, His Queen, His Church who will sit beside Him
on His Throne, to rule and reign with Him on earth for 1000 years. After the
1000 years, they will rule with Him in a new heaven and a new earth for all
eternity.
[2Ti 2:12 NASB] 12 If we endure, we
will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
[Rev 20:4, 6 NASB] 4 Then I saw
thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I [saw] the
souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and
because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his
image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and
they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. ... 6 Blessed
and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the
second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and
will reign with Him for a thousand years.
[Rev 11:15 NASB] 15 Then the
seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The
kingdom of the world has become [the kingdom] of our Lord and of His Christ;
and He will reign forever and ever."
[Dan 2:44 NASB] 44 "In the
days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be
destroyed, and [that] kingdom will not be left for another people; it will
crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
[Dan 7:18 NASB] 18 'But the saints
of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever,
for all ages to come.'
At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be released from
the Abyss where he has been imprisoned to lead a final rebellion against God.
The rebellion will be quickly dealt with and Satan and all people who have
rebelled against God (those whose names are not written in God Book of Life)
will be destroyed in a “Lake of Fire”.
[Rev 20:7, 10 NASB] 7 When the
thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, ... 10
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone,
where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day
and night forever and ever.
[Rev 20:12, 15 NASB] 12 And I saw
the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were
opened; and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life; and the dead
were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their
deeds. ... 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Then God creates a new heaven and a new earth, all things
are made new.
[Rev 21:1, 3-5 NASB] 1 Then I saw a new heaven
and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and
there is no longer [any] sea. ... 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne,
saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell
among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4
and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be
[any] death; there will no longer be [any] mourning, or crying, or pain; the
first things have passed away." 5 And He who sits on the throne said,
"Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for
these words are faithful and true."
This then is an overview of the THE PLAN. The details of the
plan are all recorded in the Word of God, the Bible. Do you really know the
plan?
Comfort, hope, and peace are to found in THE PLAN. Believers
are to keep our eyes on and live by the Plan and the joy set before us. We, the
Bride of Christ, the wife God wanted when He created mankind in the beginning,
His Bride who is to rule and reign with Him for all eternity, are the end of
the story; we are the final objective of the PLAN.
Events in today’s world can cause people to become
discouraged, fearful, and even hopeless. But, for those that know and trust THE
PLAN, they know that God has everything under control. Current events in the
world are all a part of the plan. When we know THE PLAN, and trust THE PLAN, we
find comfort, hope, and peace! We find God’s Shalom; His provision, His
protection, His peace, and His presence.
KNOW THE PLAN - TRUST THE PLAN!
KNOW THE PLAN
In our day and age, we have witnessed some of the key elements
of THE PLAN occur. World War I, The Balfore Declaration of 1017, World war II,
and very significantly, the regathering of Israel back to the land of Israel,
and the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948.
[Eze 36:8-10, 24-28 NASB] 8 'But
you, O mountains of Israel, you will put forth your branches and bear your
fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. 9 'For, behold, I am for
you, and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sown. 10 'I will
multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be
inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt. ... 24 "For I will take
you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own
land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean;
I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26
"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;
and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of
flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 "You will
live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and
I will be your God.
[Eze 37:1, 3, 5-6, 9-10, 21-22, 25
NASB] 1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit
of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of
bones. ... 3 He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I
answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." ... 5 "Thus says the Lord GOD
to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to
life. 6 'I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin
and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the
LORD.'" ... 9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy,
son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the
four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to
life."'" 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came
into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great
army. ... 21 "Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take
the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will
gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will
make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will
be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer
be divided into two kingdoms. ... 25 "They will live on the land that I
gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on
it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant
will be their prince forever.
Since
that day in May of 1948 Israel has been continually attacked by the Islamic
peoples that surround the current nation of Israel. Against all odds, they have
prevailed against all attacks including; The
War of Independence in 1948, The Sinai Campaign in 1956, The Six-Day War in
1967, The Yom Kipper War in 1973 and the continual and ongoing attacks by
Islamic terrorists. All of these attacks were probably a part of the
fulfillment of Ps. 83.
[Psa 83:2, 4-8 NASB] 2 For behold, Your enemies
make an uproar, And those who hate You have exalted themselves. ... 4 They have
said, "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, That the name of Israel
be remembered no more." 5 For they have conspired together with one mind;
Against You they make a covenant: 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab
and the Hagrites; 7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants
of Tyre; 8 Assyria also has joined with them; They have become a help to the
children of Lot. Selah.
The retaking of Jerusalem in 1967, and the USA moving its embassy
to Jerusalem in May 2018 were especially significant events in the fulfilment
of prophecy with respect to Israel that we have witnessed in our day.
All of these events lead us to this very day. We are
watching another very significant prophetic event forming right before our
eyes. It is a long-ago prophesied attack on Israel that leads into a time of
testing and judgment that proceeds the return of Jesus to earth as King of
kings, and Lord of lords. This part of THE PLAN begins in Revelation chapter 6.
[Rev 6:1-4 NASB] 1 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals,
and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder,
"Come." 2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it
had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to
conquer. 3 When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature
saying, "Come." 4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who
sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that [men] would
slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.
With the breaking of the Second Seal comes war.
The Beast takes peace from the earth. As to the war, we need to look to see
what great wars prophesied in the scripture have yet to occur. The most
significant are the wars of the very Last Days, the wars of Armageddon and
Ezekiel’s wars as prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Isaiah wrote about a war in
which Damascus would be destroyed forever, something that has yet to happen.
Also, Jeremiah prophesied about the destruction of Amman, Jordan. This is a
prophesy that some believe has yet to be fully completed. Taking these
altogether and observing the present-day events taking place in the Mid-East,
it does not take much imagination to see that the war of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel
38) is just around the corner.
This war basically involves the Islamic nations
surrounding Israel coming together to attack Israel with the intent of
destroying her. These nations are
supplied arms and supported by a nation to the north that many believe to be
Russia. Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17 are scriptures that deal with these latter-day
events also. Today we watch Iran, Turkey, Syria, and the Islamic terrorist
organizations as they support prepare to attack Israel. Russia is supplying
them arms and giving them much support.
Each day that passes draws us closer to the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s
war.
Knowing THE PLAN with respect to our day means knowing
Ezekiel 38 and the events that follow; events of The Day of the Lord.
Bible studies concerning these events including; War in the
Middle East-Ezekiel 38, Psalm 83, Isaiah 17, A Fresh look of Revelation, Forty
Steps to New Jerusalem, and A Road Map Through the Last Days, can be found on
my blog at: dpweary.blogspot.com.
