Years ago, I sought the Lord about my ministry.
“What am I?” I asked.
You are a witness, was the answer I heard.
Then He confirmed my call with Acts 26:16, “I have [called] you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you” (New King James Version).
On another occasion, He connected my being a witness to the end times. And He gave me a key for watching them as I was listening to a tape of Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin’s class at Rhema Bible Training Center. As he taught about “rightly dividing the Word,” one of his points was, “Always determine to whom a scripture is speaking.”
“A scripture can be addressed to only one person,” Brother Hagin said. “Or, it can be speaking to or about one of the three groups of people God sees and deals with as groups. God names these three groups in a letter to the Church.”
Then he read 1 Corinthians 10:32, “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.” At that moment in the late 1970s, I heard what seemed to me an audible voice saying, If you will remember that verse of Scripture, it will keep your end time doctrine straight.
The Jews, the Nations and the Church
The Lord has plans and purposes for these groups. He has judgments and futures for the Jews, the nations (gentiles) and the Church. People from all three groups have places in the Millennial Age-a threshold we are about to traverse.
A three-pronged witness, watching and telling what I see, has developed in my life of ministry-the Jews, the nations and the Church.
The first group the Lord taught me to watch was the Church. He revealed to me His plan for the glorious Church. (See the book of Ephesians!) And He gave me mentors who were and are generals in the end time army of the Lord.
He took me to the nations. Throughout the 1980s He took me to Soviet Russia where we watched up close His bringing down of communism in 1989. We have watched Europe and signs of the end times there primarily from regular trips to Brussels and the old world nations.
And then, of course, I watch Israel-God’s time clock!
When His disciples asked the Lord, “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” a key point in Jesus’ answer was, “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees” (Matthew 24:3; Luke 21:29, NKJV).
“Trees” in Luke 21:29 refers to nations. The fig tree in this verse is Israel. (See Joel 1:6-7.) “All the trees” are the other nations of prophecy. The prophets told us from the beginning, things which would transpire in the latter days in certain nations, such as Iraq (Babylon), Iran, Syria, Egypt, Russia, Europe, etc. It is from these prophets that we receive light on the happenings of these times. (See 2 Peter 1:19-21.)
By watching the fig tree and the nations of prophecy, we can tell where we are on the timeline and in relation to the fullness of time.
When we speak of the end times, we do not actually mean the end of time as such, but the end of this current age and the passing into the next one.
Since Sinai, Jewish tradition has taught that God gave man a six-day workweek corresponding to the six days of Creation. After the six days, man and Creation enter into the seventh day corresponding to God’s seventh day of rest-the Sabbath-the 1,000-year Millennial Reign.
Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 teach us that 1,000 years of earth time is as one day with the Lord.
I believe Earth is as old as true science requires, but man as we know him was created almost 6,000 years ago. In other words, to make a very long story short, we are almost at the end of the six-day workweek. We will soon cross over into the seventh day.
How can we tell? By watching the signs of the times. By considering current news events in the light of Bible prophecy.
What About the Future?
Let me quote from introductory remarks to the book of Revelation made by F.W. Grant in The Numerical Bible in 1902:
The future before the world is largely…made up of judgment, although it is true that the judgment is for a blessing which lies beyond it, and which is as bright as God can make it…God’s moral ways…the end will perfectly bring…out…. The future more than fulfils every promise of the past, and of necessity, therefore, all prophecy runs on to the complete fulfillment, intermediate fulfillments in the meanwhile showing that the first purpose abides, which the great end alone reveals in its perfection.
How should we address these days progressing toward a “future as bright as God can make it”?
“Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times” (Isaiah 33:6, NKJV). We are to know the Word of the Lord for our individual lives, and concerning these last days as revealed by the prophets.
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3). These are days of glorious guidance and revelation for those who would practice the presence of God by keeping their minds on the Lord and His Word.
Those of us in the third group ─ the Church─ look to experience the marvel of being changed from glory to glory into the very image of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). We, the Body of Christ, should now aim to abide in His presence, walk in His Spirit, partake of His benefits and be His partners in blessing the world.
Israel will pass through the final phases of God’s dealings unto complete redemption and restoration. Sheep nations will pass into the kingdoms prepared for them. Creation awaits deliverance and restoration.
Yehiya Tov ─ It Will Be Good!
I have spent hours upon hours with people of Israel ─ common folk, Torah scholars, government officials and rabbis ─ and I know for a fact that the Church and Israel are in agreement that the Messiah’s coming is at hand.
A phrase that I have learned from them is one they say, even in dire circumstances, “Yehiya Tov!” It will be good!
Article originally published in the March 2014 issue of the Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine as “The End Times ─ It Will Be Good.”Billye Brim is president and founder of Billye Brim Ministries aka Prayer Mountain in the Ozarks. For ministry materials and information write the ministry at P.O. Box 40, Branson, MO 65615; or call 1-417-336-4877. In Canada, write to Billye Brim Ministries, P.O. Box 20085, Kelowna, BC V1Y 9H2; or call 1-877-868-8470. Visit her website at billyebrim.org.
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