Have you ever been out in a dark and stormy night? There is no moon and the sky is full of dark clouds. It is quite ominous. Then all of a sudden lightning shatters the darkness and illuminates the night sky. All of a sudden the landscape is lit up and you can see the edges of the clouds as they clash together. Suddenly you have your bearings and even when the light recedes you know something of where you are. In Psalm 97 we are told that clouds and thick darkness surround him;righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Outside of the baptism of the Holy Spirit there is darkness and all we can see is filtered through the wisdom of man who in the light of God is like the darkest night. When our minds are illuminated by the light of the Holy Spirit then we can truly see His righteousness, we can exercise His justice and we can see not only the throne of God but the foundations of that throne. Someone whose heart and mind has not been illuminated by the Holy Spirit could read the Bible every day of their lives and still never be able to penetrate the hidden depth and riches that it contains. Only when the lightening flashes is the darkness penetrated. Outside of the light of God men merely stumble around and inevitably fall into a ditch and draw others into the same ditch. The question then becomes “have you been struck by lightning?”

The man who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. A certain amount of social fellowship will of course be his as he mingles with religious persons in regular activities of the church, but true spiritual fellowship will be hard to find. “The Saint Must Walk Alone” A.W. Tozer

Tozer is speaking of true spiritual fellowship. That seems to be something that is very rare. I guess the very nature of being a pilgrim denotes loneliness to a certain extent. When we think of pilgrims and pilgrimage we think of long journeys , the definition of pilgrimage is ” a religious expedition.” The word expedition means a voyage or journey, typically that of exploration. Let me ask you saints, does it seem to you that you are on voyage or a journey? Have you left the world behind and struck out into unknown lands and crossed uncharted seas? Or, have you stuck with what you know?

The Christian walk is a voyage of discovery. It crosses uncharted oceans and climbs un-climbed mountains. It leaves the world behind as it journeys towards the celestial city. We are citizens of a land unknown to men. The only map that we have is to be found deep within our hearts. In order to reach this city all must be forsaken. Have you left the world behind you? Are you a mere sojourner on this earth? Does this world seem foreign to you? The saints heart will never be at ease in Babylon. It will long to be in the New Jerusalem. We shall follow the light within us as the wise men followed the star. It will take us home.

The greatest revelation of God in my life has come in the midst of my needs. It has not come in my wants or desires or accomplishments it has come in my needs. The greater the need the greater the revelation. The second time of greatest revelation of God in my life has come when I have sinned against Him. There is no deeper humiliation for a saint than to have failed his Lord badly. Yet, when I approached the throne of grace with my head hung low and with a spirit within that was crying out ” woe is me for I am undone,” then suddenly I am encountered with love and forgiveness even although I myself had desired punishment and penance to atone somehow for my sin. Now I am undone not because of my unworthiness but because of the realization of the depths of His love and faithfulness to me. It is His holiness that saves, it is his grace that is sufficient and it is His faithfulness that will never fail. He increases in my heart and I decrease as I realize the very source of all that I am in Him and in Him alone

And so, the revelation of the depths of God have come to me and changed me and shaped me because of my needs and my need to repent of my failure and my sin. Contrast all of that to the fundamental aspects of the faith and hyper grace movement if you will. One is that God would have you have all your wants and desires and would be glorified in you accomplishments. The other is that there is no need to humble yourself and be broken and contrite over your sin because He has already forgiven your sins, past , present and future. Now if the greatest revelations of God to us are found in the midst of our needs then would not the enemy of our souls strive to get us to such a place where there is no need?

If our sins lead to humility and repentance and brokenness before the throne where we receive a greater and deeper revelation of who God is then would not the enemy of our soul try to keep us from this place by convincing us that there is no need to come here because all sins, past and present and future are already taken care of? Do not be fooled saints, God is glorified and revealed to us in the depths of our needs, our infirmities and our failures. Should we then seek to be in need or to be infirm or to sin so that God may be glorified? Not at all. I can guarantee that you wont have to seek out needs or infirmities or sin. They will find you because you are finite and corruptible. But an infinite God will one day raise you up in in-corruption. And until that day comes His grace will be sufficient for you. He will meet you in the depths of your needs. He will be faithful to forgive all of your sins when you come before Him and confess and in all of that you are drawn ever deeper into the heart of the Father.

It is always dangerous write about end times. There has to be a lot of humility even when you broach the subject and a willingness to agree to disagree. Anyone who tells you that “this is the way it is going to happen,” you can take with a pinch of salt. The reason I am writing this short piece ( I try to keep everything short these days, could take 1000 words just to introduce the subject) is because a few people have asked me if I think there is any significance for the end times in regards to the USA recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Short answer, yes, just because I think everything that happens to Israel and more specifically Jerusalem is significant. I think it actually might lead to a major peace deal, the one spoken of in Scriptures, a seven-year comprehensive peace deal and all the world will celebrate, but when they say “peace,peace,” there will be no peace and half way though that deal it will all fall to pieces. Let me give you the relevant Scripture from where we get the notion that there will be a seven-year comprehensive peace deal.

Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Mat 24:21-22 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

1Th 5:2-3 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Rev 13:7-8 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

So, the typical understanding of the abomination of desolation is that it takes place in the Temple, a Temple. Of course at this moment we do not have a Jewish temple in Jerusalem so most suppose a third temple has to be erected in order for this prophecy to take place. I disagree, for a couple of reasons. First I believe the saints themselves to be the third temple with God dwelling inside each of them, each of them being a living stone. Secondly in Matthew 24 Jesus refers to the “Holy Place.” Now, the ground upon which the Temple was built was a holy place. If you do the research you will see that the site of the Temple itself had a long rich history and so was not built on a random site. So what is there now? Right now we have the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Dome was completed in 692 and this makes it one of the oldest Muslim holy places in the world.

So that is some of the history and Scriptures that allude to this topic, now back to the USA recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Many if not most scoff at the notion that someone like Trump could be part of a final comprehensive peace deal in the Middle East. I want to remind everyone that there was another President that people openly mocked and scoffed as a buffoon, President Regan. Yet he was the one that brought down the mighty Soviet empire and the Berlin wall, the symbol of separation of east and west. Now we know that God raises up the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. The recognizing of Jerusalem as the capital city is the first step towards the peace deal that we know has been foretold.

So I believe that when you see all three religious leaders of the world come together in the “Holy Place,” to combine the religions of the world then this is the abomination, the birth of the great whore church. What disaster or disasters that bring this about I cannot tell you but it will come to pass. The world will be so sickened by terrorism, perhaps after the largest atrocity the world has ever seen, that the people of the world will demand a coming together. The leaders of the religious world will meet, at the demands of the political leaders of the world, at the holy site, the holy place, the Dome as it is now. They will tell the world that each of them believe Abraham to be their mutual father of faith and that Abraham’s God is their God whether they are Christian, Jewish or Muslim. It will be a day that the world will celebrate and exchange gifts to commemorate true world peace. And the cry will be “peace and safety.”

The only people of the world who will resist this will be the saints and they will incur the wrath of the whole world. They will be seen as a cancer in society that has to ripped out. The religious and political leaders will point to them and tell the world that these so-called Christians are the source of all the worlds problems. And so war shall be made upon the saints and they shall be overcome for a time as every tribe and tongue and nation worship the one world government and the one world religion. In fact it will be so severe that if God Himself does not shorten those days then there would be no saints left on the earth.

I believe that all these things are shortly to come upon us. It is a good thing to be prepared just as Jesus prepared in the garden before the crucifixion. We are called to endure to the end saints. We are called to overcome and stand in the evil day. Our God will be with us and He will pour out His Spirit upon us so that we may have the strength to endure. He is God that keeps His promises and He shall never leave us no forsake us.

I love the fact that no matter how ungodly the world becomes, some people still maintain their devotion to God and one another. No matter how much betrayal and debauchery we see on every side, some people still believe in duty, love, and honor. God is faithful to bless those whose hearts are attuned to him. They may not be in the majority; in fact, they usually are not. But they don’t mind; they keep on doing the right thing.

Many times today, those who love the Lord with all their heart and are sincere about following him feel bereft and alone. They look around at the corruption both outside and, unfortunately, inside the church, and they say, “How can people act that way? Don’t they know any better?” The enemy often tries to get us to give up and compromise ourselves.

In such a moment, we need to hear God’s voice reminding us of what he told Elijah at a low point of discouragement: there were still 7,000 others who had not bowed the knee to the idol of Baal. Elijah was not the only one after all.

Jesus said, “Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). God is looking for people in every age who choose his small gate and narrow road. They want to please him regardless of how opposite the cultural tide is running. They will be his holy remnant. On these God will pour out his abundance in surprising measure. (Jim Cymbala)

“[Elijah] replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.’” (1 Kings 19:10 NIV).

The cross is a place of death to the flesh, so very painful on one hand, yet the price of entrance into His presence. If I am to know the soaring mysteries of His presence and the fullness of His joy, then I must come to the place of sacrifice and death. The deeper the work of the cross in my life, the greater the revelation of Jesus. Those who are forgiven much love much and those who come to the cross and dare to dwell there as long as it takes will arise and live an abundant life. May the Lord grant us the grace to continually come to that place of entrance into His presence.

It is in His presence that we learn to yield and to surrender to His will which ultimately defeats the flesh. And while there can be much emotion in true and genuine worship, there is no hype involved. Entering into Christ’s presence one has to first past the brazen alter, this is where we sacrifice. This ensures that all “self-fulfilling” worshipers can never enter in. Will you sacrifice to enter in to the holy of holies? Will you come and dwell at the foot of the cross and die today so that you may arise from that place and live the victorious Christian life in the manifest presence of the Living God?