EVEN THE ROCKS WOULD CRY OUT!

I usually hesitate when it comes to blogging about what the Lord has been teaching me through my own personal Bible studies, or messages I hear at church, or in this case the Beth Moore study as they NO DOUBT suffer terribly in comparison, but I do feel like I want to at least jot down some of what has been sinking in.

The study of the book of Daniel FOR ME has been an extremely interesting and thought provoking, and yes at times a difficult one too.  The whole second half of the book of Daniel (as I am sure most of you know) is all about end times and prophecy's etc.  A subject I find both fascinating and faith building, but yet hard for me to retain and get through as well.   Of course I have read most of these scriptures before, heard many teachings on it, and yet have been amazed at how much there really has been to try and learn out of this book.  I always think of Daniel and the Lion's Den of course when thinking about the book of Daniel, and also about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego and the fiery furnace as well. Familiar Bible stories for most Christians of course.  And I did enjoy going over these passages in much greater detail with Beth, but the truly thought provoking verses for me have been the ones I am uncovering and learning about in the second half.  I will NEVER be able to come close to explaining anything even close to the way she does, so I will not even try, but I do have a few things to say.  She was in chapter 9 this morning (Monday is the day I listen to the videos) and referring to the times that were prophesied about concerning what would happen in the seventy sevens.  My heart zeroed in so much about the part when she was talking about how the day that Jesus rode upon that donkey as He entered the Holy City of Jerusalem, that I will have to go back and listen to this whole thing again to let the rest of it sink in like it should.  But the point was...(or part of it anyway) that the day that Jesus rode into that city on that donkey was predicted 483 years prior by Daniel, that Messiah the Prince would come unto Jerusalem. Daniel said that it would be 483 years on the Jewish calendar from the day of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the day the Messiah would come to Jerusalem - and it was 483 years, by the Jewish reckoning of 360 day years, exactly to the day!  We know this day to be Palm Sunday of course. I have heard soo many wonderful messages on Palm Sunday it would be hard to count them all up...including yesterday!  But I have never TRULY realized the FULL significance of that day.  Why or how I could have missed it might be the better question, but somehow I did.   Jesus rode into THAT city, HIS Holy City to bring peace that they (the Jewish people) didn't see and didn't receive.  Jesus wept bitterly over this.  He was announcing Himself to be their Messiah, and they missed it!  I LOVE LOVE the part when the religious leaders were trying to quiet the crowd from singing out His praises, when Jesus said, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out!" Luke 19:40.  There was NO WAY His creations could not be worshiping and praising Him at such a significant time.  This of course was then all tied in to the prophecy in which the 7 years of tribulation will come upon the earth and both Satan and God will poor out their wrath on the earth.  MANY will be fooled by the anti-Christ when he promises peace, because they didn't see peace when Jesus was bringing it. When Jesus returns to earth and His city at the end of this period of time He will be riding a white horse which signifys He is coming to do battle against Satan once and for all, and WILL bring peace to the earth for a thousand years. 

My point in all of this is we are living in "the church age" (an unknown period of time between Jesus entering Jerusalem that day, and before the tribulation)  and many of these prophecy's have come and gone...all but the final 7 years.  This is OUR time, our purpose, and our destinies as Christians.  To help bring as many as we possibly can to the saving knowledge of Jesus.  Next Sunday is Easter Sunday and we Christians will celebrate the most important day we all have to celebrate.  Jesus is alive and seating on His throne next to the Father, and He will come again in triumph.  He went to the cross for every one of us, and rose from the dead that we might have eternal life with Him.  It is just as simple as that. My prayer is that we all truly celebrate this next Sunday as we should, and invite as many of your unsaved friends as you possibly can to come as well, as they will no doubt hear a message of hope and deliverance for their eternal lives.  If you don't have a church home, find a near by church and go.  I know you won't be sorry you did, and it is definitely the most important thing you can do on this special day.   I wish I knew more of you in the San Diego area who might be looking for a place to attend as we could celebrate together.  Church at Revive this Sunday will be at an outside area on Maple Street Plaza right in the center of Escondido.  Join me in prayer that many will be reached.  How I would love to see you there...