Signs of the Times – Part unknown

There is probably nothing as exciting in our religious considerations as the signs of the times. We are sure that honest concerned motivates the readers of the Tidings, “Signs of the Times” section in the quest for “What’s new ?” in jesus time many came seeking signs, some from curiosity and others with a sincere desire to know and understand where they stood in relation to the fulfillment of God’s plan and purpose. He refused to satisfy the curiosity of the hypocrites, but to those who sought for truth he gave words of comfort and encouragement.

We know that there is progress at all times in the great plan of the ages, history does not stand still! Sometimes the movement is not sharply defined and it is difficult to analyze its intricate twists and turns. However, the broad pattern of prophecy stands out in strong relief and has been consistently demonstrated many times in past articles in the magazine.

In preparation for this article the writer thought it might be a good idea to review some of the previous issues of the “Tidings” to try. if possible, to avoid repetition.

We are very fortunate that God has given us a number of prophetic areas in the scriptures which we can draw, upon. There are important signs in the political, social, economic and religious affairs which give as wide scope for consideration. Looking over the newspaper tonight. I see that “Israelis Shell Lebanese Ports,” another headline reads “French Explode 2 Bombs” and a cartoon entitled “Bombs Away” shows the United States followed by Russia, China, Britain, France, Israel, India and Egypt all holding bombs aloft, depicting the acquisition of their nuclear capability. The proliferation of small nations having this highly technical and dangerous power potential is largely due to recent negotiations with the United States.

We turn to other sources of information, the weekly news magazines, and find much the same reports and forecasts that we did last week and the previous week. There is no real major development that we can discern that has not been noted and reported in previous issues of our magazine. The nations are still in a state of perplexity. The shortages in vital materials continues to become more critical. Corruption in government still holds its place in front page headlines. All areas of human activity deteriorate daily and no remedy can be found. The remarkable thing is the manner in which people can adjust to almost any unfavorable condition.

We recognize the great danger inherent in repetition. Peter speaks about this in his second epistle. “Where is the promise of his coming, for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” 2 Peter 3:4. Centuries have past since these words were written and the expression. “Christ is coming” has been emphasized for so long it may well have lost its impact. Even articles on the signs of the times may, because of their power to inspire and encourage the reader. Life goes on in its accustomed way with little change in its pattern of living. It is very hard for us in our affluent society to realize that the major part of our world is already facing the crisis that will some day be universal. Human nature has the peculiar facility of feeling because it does not experience hardship, it does not exist. Our country seems isolated from much of the worlds’ problems. We do not have the acute food shortages of India or the tense life and death conditions of the Mid-East. Perhaps we feel a certain security in living in the United States. If we do we are closing our eyes to some very vital statistics regarding our own domestic internal problems.

We read about the increase of crime in our society. No doubt we are appalled by the figures, but it takes a personal experience to really bring this home to us. It was a shock to hear a few years ago that one of the members of the Detroit Ecclesia was held up and robbed just out-side the meeting hall. The writer has since this episode had his office, which is in a densely populated urban area, ransacked three times and money and other valuables stolen.

The latest reminder that there can be no assurance that crime will not reach into our private lives came last evening when my wife and I went to my son’s home in a small country village of a few hundred people. He was away on vacation and we had gone out to check his garden and attend to a few chores. When we opened the door of the old farm house we were horrified to see that it had been burglarized. The thieves had wrought havoc in their search for money and valuables. Desk drawers and cupboards had been pulled open and their contents strewn around and the whole house had been methodically pillaged. It was a tragic and disheartening experience for young people who were just getting their family organized in what they thought was a secure and peaceful community. The police were efficient, but not particularly impressed with the break and we felt that there was nothing, in their viewpoint unusual about a house break – it was all on the day’s work.

To us it was more. It called to mind the graphic exhortation of Jesus concerning the last days which we do well to heed, “if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up” Matt. 1:13. The warning “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” applies to the illustration that precedes it.

It is obvious we must brace ourselves against the dangers attendant to a breaking down of the standards of morality which have always been accepted as the norm of the American way of life. The Master made no mistake in his prophetic forecast from the fact that they are the final days of man’s futile attempt to regulate his affairs. The bright light at the end of the tunnel is the return of Jesus to take the reins of government from the hands of incompetent and unrighteous men for “The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. Rev. 11:15.

It is true that we have some difficulty in sorting out all the events that are happening in our troubled world and placing the proper prophetic emphasis on them. As we said before it is the details that are uncertain and not the broad interpretation as we have consistently had them presented to us.

Let us not be lulled into the false premise, as we view world conditions, that since the last Signs of the Times appeared in the Tidings article things are past about the same. There is a day of reckoning coming which the Master says will be “as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” Luke 21:35.

The following verse states that provision is made for those who are in his household “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

When Jesus says the day of judgment comes “upon them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” we must assume that the United States will not be an exception. We must also realize that our geographical location, while insulating us to a degree, from the present conflict does not protect us from moral decadence. It is all too evident that criminal activity permeates government, business, sports, and many other areas of public and private life. We are all victims of it to some degree and there is no guarantee that we shall escape some of the more violent consequences of its sinister influence. This is the world we live in and it certainly would be unrealistic, in the light of Bible prophecy, to expect it to be otherwise.

So, in bringing this article to a close, we may not have given you much to think about on the International scene, but we have touched briefly on the intimate sensitive area where it applies most of all – our personal experience in prophetic conditions here at home. It may be a good thing for us all to get a close view of thing for us all to get a close view of things near at hand and feel our own involvement in prophecy. We must understand we are not bystanders sitting on the sidelines as observers, we are members of an active community with an important salvage work to do for the Master and precious little time left to do it.

Come, labor on!

Claim the high calling angels cannot share;
To young an old the Gospel message bear;
Redeem the time; it’s hour too swiftly fly,
The night draws nigh.

God’s people down through the ages of history have always eagerly looked for signs of the coming of the Messiah which would herald world peace. Bible prophecy his stated there would be a number of signs that indicate the time when this great event would take place . Time of tension and state I Critical decrease of energy sources earthquakes and drought and moral and spiritual decay in human society all testify to a period in world history which is termed in the scriptures in the time of the end.

Each of the various signs has its own significance. It is like looking at an object from many angles with each faced contributing its own characteristic information to a single objective objective. One area in prophecy has always had its particular appeal to God’s people as they frequently scanned the political heavens and voiced the various query Watchman what of the night. The eyes of the watchman have inevitably turned to the cast to the hand of Israel and its people the Jews. It is quite logical and its people the Jews. It is quite logical that this should be so far the Word of God stimulates us to look in that direction and to those people for an indication of the consummation of our hope and desire God Speaks in this manner of his people Israel. These are my witnesses and my servant whom I have chosen Isaiah 13:10. Their dispersement and re-establishment in their homeland is all a part of the movement of the great plan of the ages which will eventually bring Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men. Jews 2:14. This is not to inter that the Jews are willing instruments in God’s hands. Quite the contrary they have returned to Israel in unbelief and have gloried in their self sufficiency and in the words of Judges to have vaunted themselves against me saying Mine own hand hath saved me.

An apparent contradiction to the above statement seems to be indicated by a recent article in Time magazine on the forthcoming visit of Israel’s new premier to the United States. It reads The 8Th century B.C. Prophet Micah is enjoying 20Th Century political popularity Jimmy carter begin his Inaugural Address with an injunction of the Hebrews sage to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God last week in Jerusalem incoming Israel Premier Menachim Begin with a bow toward Carter also quoted Micah I or let all peoples walk each one in the name of its god but we will walk in the name of the Lord Our God for ever and ever. Begin interpreted these words in this way God at the glummer of the dawn of human civilization nearly 4000 years ago chose Israel as his people. Modern Israel therefore has no need to ask others for recognition of its right to exist.

It is interesting to note that former Premier Yitzhak Rabin was a non observant Sabra who seemed uncomfortable wearing a yarmulke and was unfamiliar with the words of the daily prayers. The new Premier is a fervently religious man who frequently invokes God name. As a result it has suddenly become popular in government circles to interject a Baruch Hashem (God be blessed) or a Toda Lel (thank God) into conversations Israel’s war hero Ezer Werzman the hawkish new defence minister also puts a religious connotation on the present condition of his country. We could find lots of comfortable places to live but there is a reason why we are here and not in Uganda or Pakistan. We believe in the Biblical right of the Jewish people to Palestine. Our belief is that the West Bank is part of the historical state of Israel and that this is an irrevocable fact. Beyond this historical viewpoint we have serious defense considerations. The West Bank is the most important real estate in the area. The Golan Heights and the Smart are questions the West Bank guards the hearthland of Israel. Then the Premier reflects for the last 30 years we have continually been told what we couldn’t do. If you had told me a week before the Six Day, War that soon I would be praying at the Warling Wall I would have called you crazy, But a momentum developed and look what happened. People always talk of what can and what cannot be done but life rolls on and conditions change. We shall have to wait and see what happens.

We do not assume as Bible students that there is a swing among the people of Israel toward a religious approach to their problems. It must be remembered that the Likud party which is now in power with rabbinical blessing is a minority party. Actually about 700 of the people of Israel are what is termed nonobservant which means they are not committed to the strict orthodox observance of the law and traditional ritualism. Many of the more moderate Jews are fearful that Begin will adopt a hard line approach in the forthcoming talk with President Carter that will negate the possibility of a productive Mideast conference with the Arab blod.

We can expect that when Premier Begin and President Carter meet on July 19 and 20 there will be some hard bargaining. The President’s present plan his two key Clements that most Israels reset as an unacceptable price for pearl First of all is the recommendation that Israel withdraw from most of the Arab territory it seized in the Six Day War of 1967 and then the creation of a Palestinian home land presumably containing most of the West Bank of the Jordan River of federation of the area had its Palestinians with the Kingdom of Jordan Premier Begins position will probably be that his government will not sabotage that efforts to negotiate an Arab Israel settlement but neither will it buy peace at any price.

There are some very realistic bargaining points involved in the coming talks. Israel needs the continuing friendship of the United States which is its principal source of supply for sophisticated weaponry and economic help. The United States on its part needs a strong democratic Israel as a bulwark against Communist encroachment in the Mideast Both sides would welcome peace but find it difficult to come to terms on the price that must be paid.

A look at the map will help us comprehend the magnitude of the problem which exists in the territorial demands of the Arab bloc. The land area that became Israeli territory at the end of the Six Day War far exceeds that of the original State. The annexation of Sinar the Gaza Strip the West Bank and the Golan Heights was not only the acquisition of real estate but the occupancy of strategic areas vital to the defense and future of this small nation.

Sinar is now a huge baffer to the south which Israel’s military leaders feel gives them time to mobilize in the event of another Egyptian invasion. Control of the peninsula also unsures the unimpeded access through the Gulf of Akaba to the important city of Llath which is vital to the shipping interests of Israel. There are also important of fields in the desert which are of great economic importance which Egypt adamantly demands must be returned with reparations for their use since the Israeli occupation.

The Gaza Strip running along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea was formerly the site of the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the Mideast. It was always considered a menace to the security of Israel and was a hotbed of resistance and hatred to the Jewish State. It pointed like a thin territorial dagger at the very heart of its Jewish neighbor with its point less than fifty miles form Jerusalem. It was an ideal springboard for invasion and a great sigh of relief went up from the Jewish military stuff when it tell into their hands in 1967.

The importance of the West Bank for merely a part of Jordan to the State of Israel is revealed in the statement that in Jerusalem these days it is considered good form to refer to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria or is liberated land rather land occupied territory. Another look at the map shows this portion of the Holyland to be of considerable size. We can see how it not only holds a sentimental and historical position in the eyes of the Jewish people but strategically it is essential to the defence of the country Jerusalem is almost surrounded by West Bank territory which extends fifty miles to the north twenty five miles to the south and twenty miles east of the city. The military strategists of Israel are very much aware that a well planned successful invasion at this point could sever the narrow waist of the country and isolate the city of Jerusalem.

There are economic considerations as well Some 650,000 Arabs live on the West Bank and Israel is under great diplomatic pressure from the United States and the Arab nations to pull out. In the area itself strikes and violent street demonstrations have become a way of life as unrest increases among the Palestinians. The Arabs hatred and distrust is fueled by an unofficial but systematic Israeli effort to creat Jewish settlements in the occupied areas. An estimated 5,000 Israeli effort to create Jewish settlements the Arabs are afraid they intend to stay there permanently. There is an extreme nationalist group called Gush Emunim that favors Jewish settlement in any part of their ancient Biblical homeland which has embarked on a grab and settle campaign to establish 20 new communities on the West Bank. This will be one of the most difficult and controversial areas of negotiations that will face the President when he meets Premier Begin.

The Golan Heights on the border of Syria is a defense point which is extremely important to the military leaders and the Jewish settlers in Galilee Before the 1967 war the farmers used to say they plowed their land looking up the barrels of the Syrian guns that dominated the fields from the hills across the like. The guns are silent now gut there is apprehension that this may be one of the areas subject to negotiation.

Negotiations there must be when President Carter meets Premier Begin and it is reasonable to believe that some limited concessions must be made by Israel in the attempt to have some hope of success at a conference table. There is one concession however that the writer does not consider negotiable and that is a change in the status of Jerusalem. It is unthinkable to consider the possibility of the temple area and the wailing wall being returned to Arab jurisdiction and control Even the most conservative Israel would vehemently protest relinquishing the holy of holies of the Jewish State Jerusalem is the religious symbol of every ting that Abraham the father of their race met the ancient high priest Melchizedek and it was here the shepherd king David established the throne of their kingdom. It was here that Yahweh chose to place His Name and to sanction the building of a temple which would glorify Him in the eyes of all nations Jerusalem to the Jews is the eternal city. It was theirs by Yahweh’s direction and in their eyes destines to be Jewish to the end of time we expect a firm. No Jerusalem is not negotiable.

There is no doubt that President Carter will try to persuade Premier Begin that Israel should be prepared to give some assurances of tentative concessions before a possible Geneva Mideast Peace Conference with the Arabs in October. But the issues are so complex and delicate the results of the talks between the President and Israel’s Premier cannot be predicted.

There is one thing however that is always a source of encouragement and strength to the Bible student. It is the assurance. That the most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men and giveth it to whomsoever. He will Dan 1:312 and He removeth kings and setteth up kings ‘Dan’4. This also applies to Presidents and Premiers. God is in complete control of individuals and nations President Carter and Premier Begin are in the present position, because God has ordained them to play a role in the destiny of Jewish people What their function will be remains to be seen.

All things move according to God’s will. The important thing for the student of prophecy to recognize is that there is movement, rapid movement. while the minor details in current events may seem somewhat obscure the broad concept rearing the signs of our times is sharp and clearly defined.

There is no doubt that we are in the final phase of the time of the end and the great day of the Lord can come at any moment. The Master has given us simple warning and the purpose of this column is to constantly remind the reader that along with the signs of the times is the exhortation. Behold I come as a thief Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame Rev 16:15