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Tribulation--verses 29-30: "Immediately after the tribulation
of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars (meteor shower) shall fall from
heaven, and the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear
the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in
the clouds of heaven with power and great GLORY."
Now turn to some significant prophecies about THIS VERY WORK,
and even THIS VERY ATTACK BY THE STATE, in Old Testament prophecies.
In a number of cases, events have happened as a type, or forerunner
of something to happen later. In many cases the Old Testament
type was a PHYSICAL occurrance to be followed by a SPIRITUAL occurrance
later.
God Almighty is CREATOR. But God creates in DUAL STAGES.
First there was the physical Adam, then about four thousand years
later came the SPIRITUAL "second-Adam," Jesus Christ. Again,
God first formed MAN of physical earth, but the second stage of
man's creation is the SPIRITUAl stage. The Old Covenant with
Israel was a physical type of the SPIRITUAl New Covenant to be
made with a spirit-resurrected Israel at Christ's coming.
Now bear in mind this duality of types as forerunners of
a spiritual event in the END TIME.
Turn in your Bible to Isaiah 40, Verse 3: "The voice of
him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord..."
That is a prophecy of John the Baptist, as shown in the New Testament,
crying out in the PHYSICAL wilderness of the Jordan River, preparing
the way for a HUMAN-born Jesus coming to His MATERIAL Temple at
Jerusalem, and His PHYSICAL people Judah, announcing that (some
l900-plus years later), He would set up the Kingdom of God.
Now turn on down to Verse 9: "O Zion that bringeth good
tidings..." Zion is used in the Bible two ways. Sometimes it
represents the City of David, a portion of Jerusalem to the east
of the Temple of Solomon. Sometimes it refers to the Church.
Now WHICH does it refer to here? It refers to a Zion that proclaims
"Good tidings." The word Gospel means "Good New" or "Good Tidings."
So this is now speaking of the true Church of God, proclaiming
the GOSPEL. Read further.
"O Jerusalem that bringeth good tidings." Here "Jerusalem"
stands for the Church of God. Continue: "Lift up thy voice with
strength, lift it up." (Verse 9). This says, AMPLIFY your voice
--by modern means of loud speakers, radio, television. The prophecy
referring to John the Baptist did not mention this lifting up
the sound with strength.
Continue: "...be not afraid; say unto the cities of
Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong
hand, and his arm shall RULE for him; behold, his reward is with
him, and his Work before Him." That is the Message WE are sending
out today. Christ is coming this time to RULE! With a STRONG
ARM! Could there be any significance in turning those two words