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]At any time, how receptive your heart is will determine your response to God’s word. If your heart has been trampled, and harden by bitterness and unforgiveness, then receiving God’s message for you will become more difficult. If your heart is like shallow soil on top of a rock, then your mind comprehends God’s truths, yet these truths do not penetrate your heart to make a real difference in your actions. Or if you are concerned about the riches of this life, then your focus is on the here and now, and these pursuits prevent God’s Word from taking hold and producing quality fruit. But a heart that is on good soil, receives the Word, applies the Word, and in due time bring forth abundant fruit! This is God’s desire for you — to have a heart cultivated on good soil!
You may recall a few months ago we sent out an unspoken prayer request on behalf of the ministry without giving any details. At the time, among many other things going on, we went in for an ultrasound and the doctor told us that he wasn’t able to see a nose bone. He went on to say that this was a likely indication that the baby had Downs Syndrome and strongly suggested we get some tests done. When Rivka politely told him that we wouldn’t need any tests and that even if the baby did have Downs, he is a gift from God and there was no way we would abort him, the doctor was taken aback. He insisted that we would be causing an injustice to allow a baby to be born with a defect such as this. And believe it or not, two other doctors agreed.
We found an interesting story in an old copy of “Our Daily Bread”: In 1883 in Allentown, New Jersey, a wooden Indian — the kind that was seen in front of cigar stores — was placed on the ballot for Justice of the Peace. The candidate was registered under the fictitious name of Abner Robbins. When the ballots were counted, Abner won over incumbent Sam Davis by 7 votes. A similar thing happened in 1938. The name Boston Curtis appeared on the ballot for Republican Committeeman from Wilton, Washington. Actually, Boston Curtis was a mule. The town’s mayor sponsored the animal to demonstrate that people know very little about the candidates. He proved his point. The mule won!
It never ceases to amaze me how our little girl, Elianna is growing and developing. I remember when she first came into this world, she was so helpless and frail — she couldn’t even move her head without our help. Now, just having turned two, she’s running around and tumbling, jumping, singing and dancing!
Yesterday we wrote about one of the greatest moves of God … the Moravian Revival. When the community was in complete disarray, Count Zinzendorf focused on how they could live together in love despite their differences. He called all the men together for an intense study of the Scriptures to focus on how Christian life in community was portrayed. These studies combined with intense prayer convinced many of the believers that they were called to live together in love and that their disunity and conflict were contrary to the clear calling of Scripture.
During the Catholic inquisitions, as millions of Christians were being killed by the Jesuit Priests for apostasy, throughout Europe, Christians were fleeing. In Bohemia alone, there were an estimated 4,000,000 Christians before the Jesuit inquisition, and ten years later, only 800,000 people remained in Bohemia – all of whom were Catholic. These terrible events prepared the ground for one of the greatest moves of God that have ever been recorded, the Moravian Revival, which lasted for over 100 years. Gustav Warneck, the German Historian of Protestant Missions, testified, “This small church in twenty years called into being more missions than the whole Evangelical Church has done in two centuries.”
Revivals, that is, genuine Divinely ordained seasons of the activity of God among men, have a universally unusual character. Normal activities and behaviors give way to the tangible influence of God’s Holy Spirit, whose inspiration brings a freedom of expression, emotion, conviction, worship, and other variations from normal experience.