WHOSO READETH, LET HIM UNDERSTAND!
Who among you did already pay attention to this important warning given by our Saviour in Matthew 24: 15?
Didn't you ask for yourselves WHY DID YESHUAH ASK THE READER TO UNDERSTAND THIS PRECISE PLACE OF THE BIBLE?
Could it be that this solemn call of our Saviour is sent to YOU personnally?
Here are a whole series of questions to which we encourage you to find an answer.
Let us go and dig in depth in our Bible to try to get a better understanding as we may save our lives literally!
You will be surprised and perhaps happy to know that Elohim does not abandon His little flock!
A PLACE IN SAFETY DURING THE GREAT TRIBULATION.
The book of The Revelation reveals us a very important promise made by Yeshuah -Christ to the church in Philadelphia:
" Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I ALSO WILL KEEP THEE FROM THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION, WHICH SHALL COME UPON THE WORLD, to try them that dwell upon the earth." (Revelation 3: 10)
A little further, in the same book of The Revelation, chapter 12 and verses 13 to 16, it is written that while fleeing before the devil, the church, symbolised by the woman, will be finally taken along towards her place in safety.
Here is a promise of physical and spiritual protection which can be fulfilled only when the members of this Church will be gathered in a place from which they will await the signal to flee towards this place of protection.
But before the two wings of a great eagle will be given to the woman, representing the church of Philadelphia, she must comply with her share of the contract with Yeshuah and by which she must KEEP THE WORD OF THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST. It is a personal responsibility and if we take it successfully, we will become automatically a member of the Church of Philadelphia.
Elohim knows that this Church of Philadelphia has a little strength and that
all her faith is in Elohim .
THE BIBLE, YOUR ROADMAP
Did you already take into account that the Bible is given to you by your Creator like a roadmap. Still it is necessary that you learn how to use it efficiently. A key to understand its use is to learn how " to keep the Word of the patience of Christ TILL THE END! "
But the Bible is a much more powerful roadmap than any other usual roadmap you could find in a shop.
The Bible helps you to travel both in time and space
Indeed, believers like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are travellers who were
traveling in time and space. The Bible takes into account these four dimensions (three for space and one for time) and in this sense it a very powerful tool!
Let us read what Paul says about our adoptive patriarchs:
" By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is Elohim .
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."
(Hebrews 11: 8-13)
Travellers like Abraham and his posterity should never be confused with
wanderers! The traveller goes towards a precise goal, in our case, it is the Kingdom of Elohim .
To be able to reach this goal, the well organized traveller must make use of reliable roadmap, showing how to reach this destination and determining carefully also the starting point. This starting point is related to time and space while the final destination is eternity. This roadmap is here at your disposal, updated with all the recent events which are taking place in the history:
It is the Bible that each one should learn how to use!
In order to help us, Elohim gives in His Word all the rules we should use to make sure we are moving in the right direction. But these rules are helpful if we are practicising them regularly. If we are neglecting them each time somebody is teaching us one of them, sooner or later, we WILL loose our way! I am sure that it is not your intention to be lost on the way. This is also certainly not the case of the church of Philadelphia. So like this church, please use your Bible like an operating manual of your life. You will never be disappointed.
Try it by taking here and there some commandments and instructions and ask yourseleves: what shall I do? How can I put this rule in practice in the future? How to use the Word of Elohim AS A LIGHT UNTO YOUR PATH? Or will you have the wrong behaviour to neglect them by forging all kinds of reasons to reject all these rules?
For instance, what do you think of the fourth commandment about the day of rest, the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, namely saturday?
" Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But THE seventh day is the sabbath of Yehoah thy Elohim : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Yehoah blessed THE sabbath day, and hallowed it. " (Exodus 20: 8-11)
By the same way, what do you also think of the commemoration of the festival of Passover and the seven days of unleavened breads which are taking place during the first month of the year according the Calendar of Elohim ? Will you follow the example of our Lord and Saviour and will you practise them? This festival is described in many places of the Bible and you are invited to meditate all of them to understand the their meaning and if it is good to keep these feasts. Read in particular Leviticus 23: 5-8, Luke 2: 41-43 and 22: 7-20.
How will you react in front of the rules about the festival of the
huts called in Hebrew Soukot? Did you already read Leviticus 23:
40-43:
" And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your Elohim seven days.
And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your Elohim . "
Will it be for you like the zealous and loving attitude of the Jews in the
time of Nehemiah?
" And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:
And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.
So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of Elohim , and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.
And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. " (Nehemiah 8: 14-17)
The behaviour of these Jews coming out of the captivity goes without saying that they used the Bible like their roadmap to travel in space and in time: On the one hand to return to the Holy Land at the time fixed by the Lord for this event and on the other hand to go to Jerusalem at the time of the festival of the seventh month to build huts commemorating the stay in the desert of Sinai.
So, are you also ready to keep the word of patience in Christ and to follow the example of the children of captivity? If you are not yet convinced, did you know that the disciples of Christ also knew and practised this commandment? They also knew like Paul that these festivals ARE A SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME!
(Colossians 2: 16-17)
Indeed, the festival of the Huts is a symbol for the period to come of the thousand years of reign of Yeshuah -Christ described in Revelation 20: 4. For this reason the disciples of Christ have the reflex to propose to build huts for Christ and his friends in Matthew 17: 2-4. The thought that the millenium is already there:
" And He (note: Yeshuah ) was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Yeshuah , Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. "
This is what are doing the people rejected from this present evil world but having received the permission to be part of the world to come. They practise this already today to show in advance the signs of what will be. But you, will you decide to join the body of Christ on earth or will you go away from it?
If you wish to understand how Elohim has built and defined His calendar, we invite you to go and read the article entitled
The calendar of Elohim , is the calendar of the Lord truth or fiction?
If what precedes did not touch you or if your convictions are far from what is exposed here, then it is better for you to stop right now the reading of this text, as it will not concern you any more. Moreover it could raise in you an unnecessary animosity against the Bible and this is not our purpose. So for those of you who decided to stay with us in this train and to continue their road, please now it is very important for you to
UNDERSTAND!
Indeed did you know that it is for YOU and YOU ONLY that the Word of our
Lord requires you to understand in Matthew 24: 15? Indeed, this part of the Bible is not adressed to the world neither even to your neighbor, nor to your nearest relative but only to you who is reading it! But when you read the Bible, are you ready to take account of its warnings? Thus did you note that your understanding is requested from you, the reader, very right after the important statement contained in verse 14:
AND THEN SHALL THE END COME!
By the way, you must note that the linkage between both verses 14 and 15 is the word THEREFORE! It means that what will be written is a very important advice for those who will live at the end time. Let us come back now to the promise made by the Lord to the church of Philadelphia:
" Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I ALSO WILL KEEP THEE FROM THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION, WHICH SHALL COME UPON THE WORLD, to try them that dwell upon the earth. BEHOLD, I COME QUICKLY…" (Revelation 3: 10)
To keep is here synonymous of to save and the hour of temptation is an event which is still to come as all the context of the book of the Revelation gives a vision of what will be at the Day of the Lord (Revelation 1: 10). Yeshuah has also recommended to his disciples in Matthew 6: 13 to pray so that Elohim would not lead them into temptation, but that on the contrary He would deliver them from the evil. This is the same advice.
But now, if we return to the writings of Matthieu 24: 14-16, we will understand that Yeshuah Christ is asking us TO READ AND TO UNDERSTAND CAREFULLY WHAT WILL FOLLOW. Indeed, He will give us here the key to be saved when the end will come and when the hour of temptation will come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. But only those WHO WILL HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD the advice given in the following part of Matthew 24: 15 will find the way to be saved. The Bible will become indeed literally a ROADMAP. Another reason for which weare asked to understand and to pay attention is that
THE END WILL COME SUDDENLY!
The end will come suddenly as at the turn of the road when there is no visibility. Christ also knows how will be the mankind at the endtime: It will be the same as at the days of Noah before the flood, in the most complete darkness, people will eat and drink, be delighted and will marry their children as they wish without consulting the Lord (Matthieu 24: 36-39). This carefree and incredulous life will continue till the moment when the church of Philadelphia will flee like Noah and his family towards the place of protection.
THEN WILL BE THE END with the great temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3: 10). But the anger of the Lord will be intended first for the church of Laodicea because of its lukewarmness (neither cold, nor hot) and of its lack of zeal (Revelation 3: 14-22). This church will be handed over to the Devil who will destroy her completely because of her sins. It will serve as an atonement for her sins.
This is what is explained by the prophet Daniel prophet in several of his prophecies. For instance read Daniel 8: more particularly verses 9-12 and 23-25 and also Daniel 7: 23-26.
The Lord will exert His judgements and He will start with His preferred people
as Paul is telling us in Romans 2: 9 and later on, He will pursue with the rest of the mankind. Please note that the word Jew includes here also the Christian people since they are indeed grafted on the stock of the people of Israël according to explanations given in the chapter 11 of the same epistle. This explains why the Christians should never pride at the account of Israelites for their fates are dependent!
Moroever Paul encourages us not to limit ourselves to listening the law
(like the church of Laodicea) but also to practice it in order to be justified by our Creator (Romans 2: 13):
"For not the hearers of the law are just before Elohim , but the doers of the law shall be justified. "
Let us open he a parenthesis as if we do not pay attention early enough to the advice of Yeshuah Christ as it is given in Matthew 24, then instead of finding ourselves in the church of Philadelphia, we will have to suffer as it is forecasted for the church of Laodicea. This church will be surprised in its sleep by the sudden coming of the sudden end and she will have to choose courageously and firmly the way of the
martyr to join the Kingdom of Elohim . This Church of Laodicea is symbolised elsewhere by the ten virgins, in Matthew chapter 25. At the end, the church of Elohim will be similar to ten deadened virgins and only half of them will have the power and the reflex to run and to meet their Saviour. If you wish of to know more
about the identity of the ten virgins, please ask for our article on this
subject. The martyr of the courageous half of this church will come
very suddenly, I repeat it, and it will occur when Jerusalem will be the top target of the lust of all the nations like it is written in Isaiah 29: 1-5; pay particularly attention to verse 5:
" Woe to Ariel, to Ariel (note: another name given to Jerusalem), the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly."
JUDAEA!
We are back with the special and striking advice given in the beginning of this article. Please note carefully that this warning is given to
ALL THOSE WHO ARE READING THIS PART OF THE WORD OF ELOHIM!
Back then in Judaea and in Jerusalem which is part of it! Do you start to understand why Yeshuah -Christ asks so distant readers in time to read and catch carefully the meaning of what will be written after? This was said by Yeshuah at a time when this part of the new testament was not written yet! Indeed, just after the escape of the church of Philadelphia towards her promised place of safety, it will be the so sudden end
with the judgement which will start with the House of Elohim , in other words the sons of Israel and the grafted part of the true Christianity.
Peter speaks about this severe event at the end in his first epistle,
chapter 4 and verses 7 and 17 to 18:
"But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer…
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of Elohim : and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of Elohim ? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? "
Yeshuah is our shepherd and He is also our Saviour, a Saviour that His flock can always find and reach easily. Thus, Yeshuah informs solemnly the attentive reader of His Word that wherever he is on earth, he should reach Judaea before the endtime if he wants to be able to save himself. The reason is that if you stay where you are, you will not have enough time to reach Judaea and to flee out of it in the right direction. Yeshuah also explains why it is so important to flee:
"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Matthew 24: 21)
You can compare the situation at the endtime with the one experienced more than 4000 years ago by Noah informed by the Lord that he should build an ark. He was the only one who understood this advice given in due time by the Lord!
TO FLEE OUT OF THE JUDAEA!
We have read earlier that the Lord offers to the church of Philadelphia protection against this great tribulation of the end. This Divine protection will keep this church alive. It means also that this church will experience the dramatic change described by Paul, at the sound of the seventh and last trumpet. After this change, the church will go and meet the Lord in the air. You can read on this subject in chapter 4 of the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, at the end of the chapter 15 of his first epistle to the Corinthians and also in the second part of chapter 11 of the book of Revelation.
But there is only one place in all the Bible where the READER is asked to pay attention and to understand carefully in order to know how to be able to reach by fleeing this place of protection, it in Matthieu 24!
What we must understand is that
ONLY THOSE WHO WILL BE IN JUDAEA OR IN JERUSALEM WILL BE IN A POSITION TO FLEE IN A HURRY TOWARDS THE MOUNTAINS!
THAT IS THE REASON FOR WHICH CHRIST ASKS THE READER TO UNDERSTAND!
But note that a christian is by no way a wanderer and when he moves, he knows in which direction he is going even when he is fleeing in a hurry. The Bible says that we must to flee towards the mountains, but it still is necessary it to know towards which mountains! Here also our Creator does not leave us in ignorance. He gives us a response by an analogy: the escape of Lot out of Sodom. Sodom is located close to the Salty Sea often called Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is also located in Judaea. Let us read now how The Lord requests Lot to flee before the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah and the other cities in the area:
" And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. " (Genesis 19: 17)
Then a little further, with verse 30, it is written:
" And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. "
Finally, verses 37 and 38 gives a report on the birth of his two sons:
"And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. "
The Bible shows us that the Ammonites are the ancestors of Jordanian of today and the name of the city Amman derives from the name of their ancestor. Indeed let us read Ezekiel, chapter 21, verses 28 and 30:
" And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith Yehoah Elohim concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering: …Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity."
This seems to indicate that we should flee from Judaea towards the mountains of Jordan, on the bank of the Dead Sea. There we will receive the two wings of a great eagle as we are said in Revelation 12:14.
Many people tend to believe that all the prophecies related to the end time have more a symbolic meaning than a real one. Do not be deceived in this precise case of Judaea and of the escape towards the mountains; for not only the word of Elohim requires a good understanding here but also for there are still other exemples where Yeshuah -Christ expressly asks his disciples to be in precise geographical place after his resurrection. Let us read what Yeshuah says in Mark 14: 28:
" But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee."
And let us read how the disciples followed this advice with faith according to Matthew 28: 16:
"Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Yeshuah had appointed them."
In this same context, read also Mark 16: 7.
Another example showing that Yeshuah -Christ can give precise geographical
instructions is found in Acts 1: 4:
"And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me."
And you know the following of the story, for thanks to this advice, the disciples got the Holy Spirit at the festival of Pentecost.
IN JUDAEA, BUT WHEN?
Here also, let us the Bible give us the answers. If you read chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew, you will find all the signs or events describing the circumstances surrounding the moment when it becomes desirable to be in Judaea for finally being able to flee towards the mountains and then to the place of protection. These chapters are indeed the answer to the question of the disciples who wished to know when will
be the coming of the Messiah and the end of this present world (Matthieu 24: 3). In the same way, with verse 33 of this chapter, Christ assures us that the events described earlier will be those which will inform us about his imminent arrival. These events are those described again in verses 6 to 14. A little further, it gives us with verse 39 an invaluable warning by drawing our attention to the important fact that the world will not suspect at all the imminency of the end. It means that if you understand what will occur, you should not try to explain this to your neigbourhoud and you should not expect him to understand you. Therefore in several places in chapters 24 and 25,
Yeshuah asks and insists: watch and be ready!
But it is not enough to want to come to live in Judaea for this event to take place! There is a condition essential to fill to be able to live in the Holy Land: Do you know this condition? Take a little time to think about this condition! To Whom is the Holy Land belonging? The Lord is the landowner of that country and He gives it to whom He wants!
"I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him." (Jérémie 27: 5-6)
The Jews are the most dramatic proof of this statement of the Lord when we apply it to Judaea! They had to wait nearly 1900 years to be allowed to return to this land in spite of all their prayers and wishes expressed years after years with the famous slogan:
" next year in Jerusalem! "
The Jewish people had to live more than 2500 years in slavery since the capture of Jerusalem by Babylon till 1948.
If the Lord is the landowner of this piece of land, and more specially if Jerusalem is the place choosen by Him to cause His name to dwell there, Him-only must be
consulted to obtain the permission to live on His country.
This is the right moment for each of us to have his faith tried:
We can sing in vain on all the roofs that Elohim exists, the devils led by
Satan know it also!
But if we believe it sincerely and if, moreover, we want to be the servant of Elohim , or in other words if we want Him to become our Father, we must ask him humbly and with insistence the authorisation to enter the Holy Land.
After this step, it will be enough for us to wait with patience His answer and if it is favorable, we must undertake with zeal the move to the Kingdom of Elohim without delaying and scorning the invitation of our Lord.
WHOSO READETH, LET HIM UNDERSTAND!