Time to Wake Up - Part 2

Well, I don't know, and neither do they. A lot of anomalies that we just can't understand or explain. And as Peter went on to say, that people are ignorant of the fact that God exists outside of our time continuum.

And that with the Lord a thousand years are as but one day, and one day as a thousand years. And then he assures us that God is not slack concerning his promises. That is the promises that Jesus would come again.

But he is long-suffering to us, because he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And so he says that one day the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and the heavens will pass away with a great noise. Now that's a big bang, and this one I do believe in.

And the elements shall melt with a fervent heat, and the earth and all of the works that are in it will be burned up. And since all of these things are going to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be, in all holy living and godliness, as we look for the coming of the day of God, where in the heavens being on fire will be dissolved, the elements will melt with a fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.

Wherefore, seeing that we look for such things, let us be diligent that we might be found by him in peace, without spot and blameless, and account that the long-suffering of our God is to give people more time to be saved. The prophet Ezekiel testified of things that would be happening that would awaken us to the fact that we're getting close to the end. And he talks about, in chapter 36, of the redevelopment of the agricultural potential of the land of Israel.

Back in 1897 the Jews got the idea to go back to Israel, and to begin to develop the agricultural potentials that are there. They came to the valley of Sharon, which is, and was at that time, a boggy swamp filled with malaria. Through the years the silt dams had developed at the Mediterranean, and all of the rivers within the Sharon Valley were dammed by the silt, and thus it formed just this huge swampy area, just totally uninhabitable.

But the Jews came in and began to buy up that property, and those who were selling it laughed all of the way to the bank at how foolish and stupid the Jews were for buying that worthless acreage. But when they purchased it, then they opened up the rivers, they removed the silt dams, allowing the rivers to again flow into the Mediterranean. They began to plant groves of eucalyptus trees that drink up a lot of water, and then they began to plant the citrus, and it became really a very productive area for citrus trees, and they began to sell the jaffa oranges around the world.

The same is true of the valley of Megiddo. The Jarbok River was dammed up with silt, and it was a malaria-filled swamp. They drained that, and they began to plant their very fertile soil, and of course it today grows three crops a year in that valley.

And they developed that agricultural potential just like Ezekiel prophesied they would in Ezekiel chapter 36. In fact, Ezekiel said, The desolate land will be tilled, and they shall say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and the desolate and the ruined cities have become fenced and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you will know that I am the Lord that builds the ruined places, and I plant that which was desolate.

I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it. I like it when God brags. You know, I said it, I'll do it.

And what can you say? He's done it. Chapter 36 of Ezekiel has been fulfilled in the last century. In Ezekiel chapter 37, the Lord said that he's going to gather then the Jews back into the land.

Though they have been scattered all over the world, he's going to bring them back and plant them there in the land, and they would become a nation once again. In May of 1948, they announced on the 14th that Israel was once again a nation among the nations of the world. The prophecy of Ezekiel, their becoming a nation, was fulfilled.

Ezekiel went on to say that they would no longer be two nations, but they would be one nation. When Israel went into captivity, we know that at the death of Solomon, the nation of Israel was divided into the northern and southern kingdom. The northern kingdom of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah.

And Israel went first captive by the Assyrians, and then about a hundred years later, the southern kingdom of Judah was destroyed by Babylon. But the Lord said when they come back, they'll be one nation, no longer divided, which, of course, has been the case. Now, in chapter 38, the Lord said when he has gathered them again into the land, and they are dwelling there, that he's going to put an evil thought into the minds of the leaders of Russia, and they will mobilize the Muslim nations, beginning with Iran, and they will attempt to annihilate Israel as a nation.

It's interesting. Israel has had problems from its birth. The moment that Ben-Gurion announced that Israel was a nation, Syria attacked from the north and took the Golan Heights.

Egypt attacked from the south and took the Sinai Peninsula, and Jordan attacked from the east and took the West Bank, so that Israel was left with just a small little portion of land, which they fought bravely for and were able to maintain as Israel.