1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
For the past two weeks we have examined lessons from the OT account of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt in hope of avoiding the errors and attitudes of the children of Israel. This week we will draw connections between the Exodus and the prophecies in the book of Revelation.
One of the central figures in the Exodus, was the Egyptian ruler, Pharoah. The Hebrew spelling for “Pharoah” (“peh”-“resh”-“ayin”-“hey”) literally describes who the man was. The outside letters (“peh” – “hey”) spell the Hebrew word “Peh” which means “mouth” in English. The inner two letters (“resh”-“ayin”) form the word “Rah”, the name of the ancient Egyptian sun god. So, “Pharoah” in Hebrew, identified him as, “the mouth (or voice) of Rah”.
But the word “rah” has another meaning in Hebrew, that is, “evil”, “wicked”, or “bad”. Adding this meaning describes someone who speaks with “godlike” authority, yet is evil. We can see here a strong similarity to the “beast” of Revelation 13, as this “beast” was given a mouth to speak blasphemy against God; [Revelation 13:5].
The apostle John warned that antichrists are already here among us, and while we may be aware of the various manifestations of the antichrist spirit in our culture, and elsewhere, we also are expecting a final revelation of a “Man of Sin” known as “The Antichrist”. His way is being prepared that the whole world may receive and worship him.
“The whole world”, but not true believers in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ). Yet, not to be deceived as the Lord warned us, [Matthew 24:24] will require spiritual discernment. We must test the spirits, as the Apostle John instructed us: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God…” [1 John 4:1]. Our spirits and our minds must be informed by the Word of God, according to simple and true gospel of Yeshua’s death for sin, and resurrection from the dead.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The Moravian revival, our current subject, began in the little community of Herrnhut on August 13, 1727, with a tremendous outpouring of the Holy Spirit likened to that of Acts 2. It was a work of God that would transform this group of splintered Christian settlers into a unified missionary endeavor committed to reaching the unsaved around the world.
As we discussed last week, the word for “sign” in ancient Hebrew is “oht”. It was used in Genesis to designate God’s covenant sign with Noah, (the rainbow). And we see now the same word again, in Exodus, identified with the deliverance of the Jewish people from the tenth plague, when the angel of death passed through all Egypt to strike the firstborn. Anyone under the “sign” of the blood was spared.
This is one of my favorite promises in the Bible — that God turns mourning into dancing! He takes away the anguish of being clothed in sadness and replaces it with gladness. However, notice what God doesn’t do — simply stop your mourning and make it disappear. No, He transforms it…into joy!
With war drums beating even more intensely in Iran and Syria, we’ve received numerous phone calls and emails expressing their concerns — and understandably so! Nevertheless, even in this climate of anxiety, we are preparing to enter into Shabbat (the Hebrew word for Sabbath) this afternoon. And as we do, we are remembering again, the deep lesson of God’s entering into His rest following the six creation days.
A sailor who was shipwrecked on a desert island was captured by some of the natives of that island. They carried him off on their shoulders to their village, where he was sure he would end up being the main course. But instead, they put a crown on his head and made him king. He was enjoying all the attention he was receiving but was growing a little suspicious. He started making inquiries and discovered that their custom was to crown a stranger king for a year and at the end of that year the crowned king would be sent to a deserted island where he was allowed to starve to death.
Some of the wealthiest individuals in the United States are real estate developers. They make their money by buying a piece of property that is terribly run down, seemingly useless, without any value to the naked eye and reforming it completely, making it look brand new! These businessmen are not as much interested in what is on the property as they are interested in the land it’s on!
For those of you who didn’t get that title, it’s a well known children’s Suzuki violin rhythm.
Not long ago, I came across an old issue of Homemade, where Dr. Ernest Mellor writes on fostering good relationships. This is so good I had to share.