September 4
Ezekiel 40:38-43:27
From Scripture we know that Jesus will be coming back twice. Once will be seen only by His church as He comes for us to rapture us up to heaven with Him. The other time will be public, will not be missed, as the entire world sees it. We read in Luke 17:22-24, "Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns, but you won’t see it. People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man,’ or ‘Here he is,’ but don’t go out and follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man comes." Not only are we told that He will be coming back, but we are also told where. We just don't know when before the tribulation begins. This is important as we look forward towards the future that no one be deceived. Scripture is crucial to prevent those going through the tribulation to be able to continue forward in anticipation with hope.
We read of this time in Ezekiel 43:1-4, 7"After this, the man brought me back around to the east gateway. Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel appeared from the east. The sound of his coming was like the roar of rushing waters, and the whole landscape shone with his glory. This vision was just like the others I had seen, first by the Kebar River and then when he came to destroy Jerusalem. I fell face down on the ground. And the glory of the Lord came into the Temple through the east gateway... The Lord said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place where I will rest my feet. I will live here forever among the people of Israel..." In an earlier vision, Ezekiel saw the glory of God depart from the temple in the exact same location (Ezekiel 11). We get further information about His return in Zechariah 14:3-4, 8-9, "Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south...On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean, flowing continuously in both summer and winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshiped." We gain more insight a little later in Ezekiel 47:1-2, " In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway."
Two prophets writing around 60-70 years apart, describing the same event with extreme clarity and without contradiction. As an interesting side note, years ago when the Sheraton Hotel Corporation was looking at the Mount of Olives for the site of a future hotel, they sent a group of environmentalists to survey the site. Interestingly, they found a fault line running directly through the Mount of Olives, so they halted construction. These environmentalists simply verified what had been clearly stated 2500-2600 hundred years previously by these two prophets of God. The times we live in are uncertain. When the things of God will culminate are also uncertain, though those remaining on the earth after the Rapture of the church have been given a timetable in both the book of Daniel 9:24-27, and also in the book of Revelation by John. God has given us His book and His counsel. He wants all to come to faith in Him and to understand the times. He is in control. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He has taken the mystery out of the future. He and His word can be trusted. He will return from the location of the Mount of Olives and take up residence in His Temple and reign in the Millennial Kingdom. Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: