Insights from Israel - Chuck Missler at the Tel Megiddo

[Music] [Music] well here we are at the top of megiddo a tel megiddo in local parlance biblically it's also har mageddon mount megiddo and one of the most incredible vistas that you'll find in israel this vista embraced so many many battles in the old testament this is where jabin and his 900 chariots were overwhelmed where gideon's 300 defeated the midianites the amalekites and the children of the samson triumphed over the philistines barack and deborah defeated cicero and saul was slain by the philistines that's gilboa right over there and ahaziah was slain by the arrows of jehu and this is where pharaoh neko being attacked strangely by josiah killed josiah and feroneko came up from egypt going against the assyrians josiah took up arms against him which puzzled him and the key to the whole ark of the covenant story is in second chronicles 35 for those that want to dig into it but this is that incredible vista 270 degrees of that's nazareth right over there where jesus was raised as a child i often wonder how much he knew for knowledge when looking across this very valley if he understood then what was going to happen even as a child and then of course we go to mount tabor mariah and uh um gilboa all the way around to janine and samaria and so forth the west bank as it's now called by some when you use that term by the way you're using the label of their enemies but we're here at megiddo and it's very it's a spot that we very typically use to dig into ezekiel 38 and 39 the magog invasion that ill-fated invasion that features so prominently on our probably on our near horizon but candidly there's no reason to necessarily connect uh ezekiel 38 39 with this location we usually use it because it's a prophecy oriented study and we do it from here but i thought this time we do something a little bit different let's talk a little bit about what this is really going to be all about the first thing that may surprise you is there is no battle of armageddon that's a common phrase that misunderstands what the scripture says this valley the valley of jezreel has the same relationship to jerusalem that england did to the normandy invasion it's the place where you gather the troops for the invasion and the antichrist has got his campaign is against jerusalem and this is where the nations are gathered for that onslaught and the real target may surprise you because they're initially scheduled to go against jerusalem but what they're really after are the believing remnant because if satan can wipe out the believing remnant he can prevent the second coming apparently from from hosea 5 15. and uh so where is he to where has the remnant fled to to petra or basra basra and petra are equivalent terms and it's interesting let's talk a little bit we all know about the second coming most of us go to zechariah where his feet touch the mount of olives that may not be the beginning of his return that may be his triumph after a battle that is crucial and it's not armageddon directly take your bibles with me and let's go to isaiah chapter 63 and we'll read a passage that may surprise some of you if i can find it here in the wind turn with me if you will to isaiah 63. who is this that cometh from edom now where's edom southeast the location of the traditional enemies interestingly enough who is this that cometh from edom with dyed garments from basra this that is glorious in his apparel traveling in the greatness of his strength i that speak in righteousness mighty to save who would that be who's that who who are we looking at here who is coming from basra that's mighty to say booth messiah the messiah good for you wherefore art thou red in thy apparel and there are garments like him that treadeth the wine path i have trodden the winepress alone of the people there was none with me for i will tread them in mine anger and trample them in my fury and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments and i will stain all my rainmen for the day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of thy redeemed is come and it goes on jesus comes back you'll discover that from chapter in ezekiel chapter 25 to 32 there are seven nations that are wiped out at the second coming you examine those you'll discover they're all the muslim nations now he's going against edom and he is covered with the blood of his enemies that's a that's an image of the second coming you don't normally see in your sunday school uh you know jock talks or flannel boards or whatever right let's take a look at another passage that you might find provocative if i can do this in the wind here i'm turning to chapter 14 of the book of revelation starting about verse 14. and i look behold a white cloud upon the cloud once sat like the son of man having on his head the golden crown and his hand a sharp sickle another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time has come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe and he that sat on the cloud thrust in a sickle in the earth and the earth was reaped and another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven and he also having a sharp sickle another angel came out from the altar which had power over the fire and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe and the angel thrust in a sickle under the earth and gather the vine of the earth cast it unto the great winepress of the wrath of god who last verse of that chapter the wine press was trodden without the city and that's in other words outside the city and blood came out of the wine pressed even unto the horse's bridles wow that's graphic by the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs now what does that mean a thousand six hundred furlongs well those of you that are horse players know that a furlong is 582 feet right if you do that arithmetic you'll find out that that is essentially 176 miles what's the distance from edom basra to megiddo 176 miles is it possible that there's a linkage there i'll leave that to your own studies but you know what's interesting is we're really here this is a literal place and this valley is a literal valley the valley of jezreel so much of the biblical history is here but also so much of the biblical future is here one thing we don't really talk much about is the term the fear of god we use it so casually as new testament christians we get so casual if you go through the scripture when people encountered god they trembled when isaiah first met him he was undone and again and again and again we we don't really keep in view that our god is god and there is a point at which his wrath is going to be poured out on mankind and this is the centroid of it all right here right here where we are but it's also a good place for us to get serious about him get serious about doing our studies and we won't try to get into all the other verse by verse parts of this we can do this in the evenings if you want to in part but be diligent and as you study your scriptures be precise be careful of your definitions and the more you are the more it will unravel for you the more it will become clearly in focus and as you do all that continue to pray that god will illuminate what he specifically wants each of us to do we usually speak in generalities let's communicate with him intimately personally and our prayer should be for clarity in the precision of what he wants us to do in the days that remain the whole reason you're here on this trip is to get closer to a little more in focus precisely what he would have of each of us to your savior you're saved by the blood of jesus christ praise god for that we're taking that for granted what's next how many of you are saved here what have you done with it why did he save you for some broad reasons of course but there also is a specific ministry he has for each one of you and the great adventure in life is to discover what it is and uh as you discover what it is roll up your sleeves and get with it because the time is short the days are short and every day that our lord carries all of us i think have a consciousness that the next major event to happen isn't armageddon actually that's after a number of other intervening events the next thing to happen is not the magog invasion it's not i could make a whole long list the next major event to happen on god's calendar is when the father says the son go get him and we have the harpazzo yeah and we're all excited about that of course and we should be but let's also realize that every day that he tarries is another day for us to repair our report cards because the first thing that happens after the harpazzu is the bema seat of christ and everyone that's in front of that bema seat is saved it's in the father's house there is that uh that event second chronicles 5 10 nails it down the procedure is described in first corinthians 3. it's not a judgment of people it's a judgment of the works of those that are saved call it fruit bearing and avoid the confusion we're not talking about legalism here we're not talking about sin since taken care of at the cross everyone in front of that bema seat is saved the question is have they been diligent have they been faithful did they persevere i often threatened to have a conference or a presentation in the evening why i believe most christians will be disappointed when they get to heaven that rattles people enough to want to turn out and so they'll come all the fundamentals will be there and i'll point out is there's a presumption widespread presumption that everybody in heaven is equal the scripture teaches the contrary also we're all taught by well-meaning pastors that if you're saved you're going to rule with christ this scripture doesn't say that it may be if so be that you suffer with them if so be that you're a medicoid a partaker in some way or another and so we need to understand that there's going to be a huge disparity some of us will get there all of us will will get into heaven by the completed and sufficient work of jesus christ that's done deal sin has been taken care of it was nailed on a cross erected in judea some two thousand years ago that's not the issue of the bemacy the issue is what have we done with it what kind of fruit have we born for the kingdom have we been faithful have we been obedient and i strongly suspect that most of us will be somewhere on a spectrum from zero to a hundred somewhere in the middle there who knows there are five crowns as much of other things this amazing amount of scripture that focuses on us that adds up to the fact that behavior matters the fact that you're saved by christ praise god for that but that doesn't mean we put our feet on the desk and relax and relish our get out of hell free card that christ paid for praise god for that no there's more to it than that and there's going to be tears in heaven apparently the scripture several times says god's going to wipe away the tears why are there tears there's no death there's no sickness there's no lack of the shortage of the word of god why are there tears at all i suspect that those tears are the result of what was so beautifully expressed by john greenleaf whittier if all the words of tongue or pen are these the all the words of tongue or pen the saddest are these it might have been i think you and i when we're before that behemoth see what's going to drive us to tears not our sins that's been taken care of and we'll be looking at all the opportunities we had to serve our king and i think no matter how faithful we've been no matter how persevering we've been we're going to also realize the times we wasted the opportunities we squandered when we we really come to grips with the fact that we are in a boot camp for heaven and our responsibilities and our opportunities and our rewards throughout eternity are going to derive from our faithfulness here now wow i think we'll as our lives are reflected and we realize the time we wasted the things we might have done wow but the real the real opportunity every one of us has is to serve our king and every day that he carries is a day to improve our report card and so i encourage all of us as we enjoy this incredible opportunity be here in the land as we actually can take direct uh connection with so many of the biblical events that we've studied so uh thoroughly in the word and we actually are up here at megiddo that should give us a reality not just its past but to the future because the day isn't long that there's going to be tanks and what have you going through this valley there's going to be a global climax on the horizon and if we understand it right we'll be watching that from the mezzanine but we want to do what we can to make that our own appraisal as effective as we can so with that let's pause for a word of prayer with our hearts father we thank you that you are our god and we thank you father you are a merciful god and we thank you father that you've gone to such extremes on our behalf to provide us a redeemer that has paid the price that we might enjoy eternal fellowship with you we thank you for that father but we also thank you father for the time that is ahead we thank you father for the opportunities that will cross our path we pray father that you would reignite in each of us a new hunger a new passion for your word that we each might grow in grace the knowledge of our king but that we also may be more effective stewards of the opportunities that will present themselves in the days ahead that we might be more pleasing in my sight as we commit ourselves without any reservations whatsoever into your hands in the name of our coming king our redeemer yeshua our lord and savior jesus christ amen you

Channel: Koinonia House

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Keywords: jesus, christ, koinonia, house, khouse, institute

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Length: 17min 25sec (1045 seconds)

Published: Thu May 13 2021