BBD 07.11.13 What If?
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
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The Burning Bush Devotional
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Classic from 2006
07.11.13
What If?
When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused,
declares the Sovereign LORD. In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that
time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the
sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves
along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at
my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and
every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my
mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every man's sword will be against his
brother. I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will
pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops
and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my
holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they
will know that I am the LORD.' - Ezekiel 38:18b-23.
This passage in Ezekiel refers to what is known as Ezekiel’s War or the Battle
of Gog and Magog. It describes an attack upon Israel and the intervention
of God to protect Israel. Although the nations primarily affected by the
destruction will be those attacking Israel, it appears that there will be some
worldwide effects. There will be a "great
earthquake." Every creature and all the people on earth
will "tremble” as a result of that earthquake. In addition, mountains
will be "overturned," cliffs will "crumble," and every wall "will
fall."
The question for us and for Bible scholars of the ages is
and has been when will this event of Ezekiel’s War occur? Many scholars simply ignore the issue; however, with
Israel being reborn as a nation in 1948 and the continued events of the Middle
East the timing of this event is very important to us.
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins in their "Left
Behind" series present the Battle of Gog and Magog as taking place
prior to the beginning of the seven years of Tribulation. Joel Rosenberg,
author of "Ezekiel’s Option," also presents this battle as
taking place prior to the Tribulation period. LaHaye, Jenkins, and Rosenberg
also present the prophetic timeline as having the Battle of Gog and Magog
precede the Rapture of the Church. According to this timeline, we who are
Christians will still be around to see the intervention of God and the
destruction of the attacking enemies of Israel. According to this timeline, we
will also be present to experience the effects of an earthquake that make the
entire world "tremble."
I am not an expert on prophecy but what if? What
if Rosenberg, LaHaye, and Jenkins are right? What if we wake
up in the middle of the night to the shaking of our houses and when we turn on
the television we see right there on CNN (or Fox, or MSNBC) fire and brimstone
and giant hailstones raining destruction on the armies attacking Israel? Shocking?
That would be a great understatement, wouldn’t it? Terrifying, might be
a better word.
Now since we have considered that scenario how about
this one? Perhaps, this is not some event that will take place far in the
future but instead it is rapidly approaching. No one knows for sure - but what
if? What if this event were to occur during your lifetime? How
would you cope with it? How would your family cope with it? Would you survive
it? If you did survive it, what would you do next?
Considering that this supernatural intervention of God
and fulfillment of prophecy would take place before the entire world it would
then present a great opportunity for evangelization of those around us. It
could be that there will be a great spiritual awakening prior to the Rapture. What
if…?
Copyright © 2006-2013. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
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