Shalom, shalom. Peace, peace, in the name of Yeshua. This is Crystal Sharpe and welcome to the Ancient Scrolls program.
It is roughly 16 days left in this month and then the new year 2020. On this program I have been saying for some weeks the outpouring of His Spirit has begun. It began in May. We are watching for a greater sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit among people we encounter, among our family members, friends and acquaintances. We are watching for positive responses to His movement at this time. We understand we are in the end days, and we are excited about His return and what He will accomplish during this season. Let’s move on to the teaching.
We are still in Revelation 16. Today will finish it. I am going to use other passages from Ezekiel 36 and 38 to help fill out some places in Revelation. And Exodus 9 will give some insight on God’s purpose of His plagues; and see how far we go on this episode. We will briefly touch on the information from last week.
Let’s say the Shema:
Shema (hear, understand) O Israel. The Lord God the Lord is one.
Psalm 24
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein.
Father YHVH,
You are the God of the Universes. You are God over heaven and earth. We ask to be cleansed from all unrighteousness so that our prayers will be effective against the kingdom of darkness. Help us to be conformed to Your likeness and image. We desire Your righteousness and justice to prevail over the darkness in this nation and the nations. We pray Your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray Your breath of life will permeate Your remnant people and revive them. We pray this in Yeshua’s name. Amen.
Some weeks back I made an observation of some resurrections that were associated with earthquakes. Ezekiel (chapter 37) had written for preservation that the hand of the LORD came upon him and brought him out in the Spirit of the LORD and set him down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. The LORD asked Ezekiel if those dry bones could live. Ezekiel was told to prophesy life over the dry bones. Verse 7. As Ezekiel prophesied there was a noise which in Hebrew is Kol and means a voice, and suddenly a rattling which is ra’ash, means quaking, earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to bone.
Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. 9. Also 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 may live.” ’ ” 12.“Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, “O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up you’re your graves, and bring into the land of Israel. 13. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people and brought you up from your graves.” Ezekiel then describes muscle and flesh overtaking the bones and finally breath.
I Thessalonians 4,Paul described there would be a shout with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are remaining will be caught up together to meet Him in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. I Thessalonians 5:1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectlythat the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
Paul is stating information they already know, the resurrection is at the Day of the Lord. Not before, but at the day of the Lord, at His coming. The word does not deviate out into left field, as if to change its mind at different times. At the direction of certain teachers, the timing of His return may change, but the word insists He will come at the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is at the Fall Feasts—from Yom T’ruah/Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement.
There was an earthquake at Yeshua’s death and a great earthquake at His resurrection. Revelation is taking us toward the great earthquake
Here in Revelation we at Revelation 16:17
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying: “It is done!”
Done in Greek is ginomai and means i.e. to come into existence
What I found interesting is that Yeshua at His death said: “It is finished.”
I hope to make some comparison with Revelation 16.
John 19:30
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, It is finished. And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. Matthew continues the narrative in chapter 27:50, And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split and the graves were opened. The historians say the stone above the curtains was broken and this tore the curtains in the Temple at the earthquake.
“It is finished” is a sentence of doom being proclaimed throughout the cosmos: the earth, and the demonic realm. The keys of Hades (NKJV, literally means unseen, the unseen realm) and Death, these keys represent the resurrection, these keys would then come into the possession of Yeshua.
“It is finished” was the genesis of the end where it is announced by the angel in Revelation 16: “it is done!” It like a two part process or a two part stage that we witness. Similar to Genesis 3:15 where God is pronouncing correction and judgment to Adam, Eve and the serpent. God addresses the serpent: I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her Seed (her seed meaning the Messiah); He shall crush your head, and you shall crush His heel.
In order for Messiah to crush the head or the authority of the serpent, His heel must be crushed. In a way it mirrors Esau and Jacob, only in reverse, where Jacob is grasping the heel of Esau to prevent Esau from crushing his head while they were still in the womb of Rebecca. From Jacob will come the Messiah and from Esau will come the antichrist.
18. And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred men were on the earth.
This powerful earthquake indicates the end of the age. I propose it is here, at this earthquake that the resurrection will occur at His return. Revelation 1:7, Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
Ezekiel 38:18
And it shall come to pass at the same time, when Gog/the beast anti-christ comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, that MY fury will show in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken: Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at my presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
This is when Messiah will return, Revelation 19:11 and we will pick up on Ezekiel 38 again. Now I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothes with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the WORD OF GOD. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!
Isaiah 11:3
His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Ok, let’s return to Ezekiel 38:21, I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all my mountains, says the Lord GOD, Every man’s sword will be against his brother. And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed, I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone (this sounds like an oxymoron rain and fire. How can there be both when rain can put out fire? It is a contradiction. But it mirrors the seventh plague that was rained down on Egypt. Exodus 9:24, So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. The sages say that Michael has dominion over the water and Gabriel has control over the fire) Thus will I magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will shall know that I am the LORD.
19. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.
20. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Apocalyptical language of vast Biblical, cosmic proportions; what a way to end the age! It will not be forgotten for a thousand years!
21. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague.
A talent is around 75 pounds, some say 100 pounds. The armies of the nations, their weapons, their tanks, their missiles have failed them. Gog has failed them, Babylon has failed them. The false prophet has failed them and the image of the beast has failed them. The dragon has failed the nations and its armies. The dragon all through the Bible does not show himself to be anything but a failure. A failure going to the lake of fire.
I am getting ready to close the program . . .
I would ask who shows Himself strong over the dragon, over Gog/antichrist/beast, the armies of the nations, over the cosmos—demonic realm? YHVH and His Son Yeshua.
What is the purpose of it all? That God will be revealed to the nations. For even though these curses are quite severe, there will people in the nations who will survive and enter into the Messianic kingdom according to Zechariah 14.
I am going to read Exodus 9:13 The Complete Jewish Study Bible
Adonai said to Moshe, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Here is what ADONAI says: “Let my people go, so that they can worship me. For this time, I will inflict My plagues on you, yourself, and on your officials and your people; so that you will realize that there is none like Me in all the earth. By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with such severe plagues that you would have wiped off the earth. But it is for this very reason that I have kept you alive—to show you My power, and so that My name may resound throughout the whole earth.
Ezekiel 38:23
Thus will I magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will shall know that I am the LORD.
It is not because of Israel that God will sanctify His name in the earth, but it will be for His holy name’s sake.
Ezekiel 36:22
Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.
And I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations will know that I AM the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I AM hallowed in you before their eyes.
The end does not have to be this way, but because of the wickedness of our hearts, our insensitive hard hearts toward God; we act like Pharaoh we bring our own sorrows and death and then we become angry at God.
Anyway, I am at the end of the program.
If it’s God’s will I will be here next week. Remember to walk by faith, not by sight. Keep your spiritual garments clean from spots, wrinkles and blemishes. Do two things this week: love and forgive. Love God, love your neighbor.
Rico Cortes will sing the Aaronic priestly blessing.
