Haggai
The First Prophet of the First Return
Message #1
The Present Condition of the People
Hag 1:1-2
1:1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built.
KJV
Haggai 1:1
"Second year, sixth month, first day" Haggai['s messages from God are all documented very precisely. A short two months later Zechariah begins his ministry adding to the importance of this second return
Zech 1:1
1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
KJV
Hag 1:1
Verse 1. In the second year. Cf.
Introduction. The prophet dates all his prophecies, as though he kept a strict
diary of all the important events in the rebuilding of the Temple. First day of
the month. The new moon was a time when the people assembled for worship (as do
orthodox Jews today); thus it was an appropriate occasion for the preaching of
Haggai's divine message. Sixth month. Called Elul, this month falls about
September. The dating of the prophecy in the reign of a Gentile monarch is
eloquent testimony that "the times of the Gentiles" had begun.
(from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database.
Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)
Luke 21:24
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
KJV
The problem which Haggai is called to correct is that work on
God's house, the Second Jewish Temple had stopped.
Ezra 4:24
24 Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
KJV
The Jews had initially failed in their dispensation. God graciously gave them a second chance. They started out with great expectations, but quickly fell back into the error of disbelief. The Gentiles were great, and Israel was nothing. The glory of the spectacular like the plagues on Egypt, or the parting of the sea did not accompany this re-entrance into the Holy Land. They became discouraged:
Ps 74:9
9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
KJV
Most of the real work of the Lord is without fanfare. The Bible predicted that the greatest worker of all time would not use fanfare as His tool to accomplishment.
Isa 42:1-2
42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
KJV
The spectacular time would come latter when a future Darius as a representative of the future Gentiles would have to step aside, or be wiped away for the sake of Israel. The time was not now, but preparation for that time was now! The Temple was critical to all God had planned for Israel and the Gentile World. This Second Temple at this time was not going to be spectacular, but it was still just as critical. It was critical to the judgment of the Gentiles by God's Servant who was to come.
"Darius" Darius-Hystaspes, the king of
Medo-Persia, the second of the world-empires
(from
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997
by Biblesoft)
Darius was the third Persian King in a line of Gentile rule that was predicted by the prophet Daniel.
Dan 2:36-46
36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
46 Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.
KJV
The Kingdom of God and of heaven to which Daniel said was "certain" must have the Jewish Temple. The law of that Kingdom will be the law of what the blood of Christ represents. The blood will lawfully be presented to the Jew first, and then to the world from the Temple! Nebuchadnezzar the head of gold, and the first of the Gentile rulers saw the truth in what Daniel said. He clearly saw God's plan in Christ that would end Gentile rule. A new Kingdom would emerge based on righteousness. It's Jewish Messiah/King would be better then anything the world could ever produce. He would be worthy for all other Kings and Kingdoms to step aside and yield. He will be irresistible to Jew and Gentile. He will crush and consume all who will not stand aside, who will not yield.
"The word of Jehovah," "The word of the LORD," The word of Yahweh" is a repeated phrase throughout this short book. Today is the day of the usurper, the false prophet, the phony TV Charismatic making grandiose claims as spokesman and spokeswoman of God. A Biblically ignorant public has accepted these TV actors as a valid voice representing God. These false prophets have deceived their followers into believing everything they say and do is directly from God. Here, in Haggai, is the real voice of the real God of the Bible. God did not go to the big shots. He did not go to the great manipulators of the day. He went to Haggai. Many commentators have noted that Haggai's use of language is crude. He was not a very sophisticated fellow. He was the fellow God called as the first to speak after the dismal failure and expulsion of Israel. He was the first prophet of the first return.
"Came by Haggai the prophet" God placed the word, the responsibility of representing God and His word, in the hand of Haggai. It was given to him to be the representative of the true God of the Bible. He did not have to be sophisticated. He did not need to be spectacular. All he had to do was be faithful.
The name Haggai means "festive". It links him to the festivals of Israel. Here on the first day of the month the New Moon festival would have been celebrated.
Ps 81:3-4
3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
KJV
The place from where the trumpet was to be blown was on the Temple wall. Modern archeology has discovered the very Temple stone from in front of where the trumpet was blown. It is inscribed "To the trumpet-call building to pr..." At this point the stone is broken. It is believed to have said "To the trumpet-call building to pr[oclaim].". God called His people together at each new moon to acknowledge His rule over the nation. The Temple, the feasts, the sovereignty of God are all coming back together under the prophet Haggai at this first return, and are similarly coming together again at this second return of our day.
This first message of Haggai is directed to two very prominent Jews. The first is Zerubbabel the governor. He was the secular head of Israel at the time. He was the city planner as it were. He determined what and where things would be built. He was the head administrator. He issued the building permits. He determined the priorities of all the public buildings.
Zerubbabel - His name means "born or
begotten in Babylon." In the historical accounts he is called Sheshbazzar (see
Ezra 1:8; 5:14,16). He was a scion of the Davidic dynasty, the grandson of
Jehoiachin (Jeconiah; 1 Chron 3:17,19), and was made governor of Judah by Cyrus
(Ezra 5:14).
(from The Wycliffe Bible
Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)
.
"Son of Shealtiel" There is a lot in a name in the Bible. Keil & Delitzsch did their homework.
She'altii'eel, i.e., the prayer of God, or one
asked of God in prayer, was, according to 1 Chron 3:17, if we take 'assiir as an
appellative, a son of Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), or, if we take 'assiir as a proper
name, a son of Assir the son of Jeconiah, and therefore a grandson of
Jehoiachin. But, according to 1 Chron 3:19, Zerubbabel was a son of Pedaiah, a
brother of Shealtiel. And lastly, according to the genealogy in Luke 3:27,
Shealtiel was not a son of either Assir or Jeconiah, but of Neri, a descendant
of David through his son Nathan. These three divergent accounts, according to
which Zerubbabel was (1) a son of Shealtiël, (2) a son of Pedaiah, the brother
of Shealtiël, and a grandson of Assir or Jeconiah, (3) a son of Shealtiël and
grandson of Neri, may be brought into harmony by means of the following
combinations, if we bear in mind the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 32:30), that
Jeconiah would be childless, and not be blessed with having one of his seed
sitting upon the throne of David and ruling over Judah. Since this prophecy of
Jeremiah was fulfilled, according to the genealogical table given by Luke,
inasmuch as Shealtiël's father there is not Assir or Jeconiah, a descendant of
David in the line of Solomon, but Neri, a descendant of David's son Nathan, it
follows that neither of the sons of Jeconiah mentioned in 1 Chron 3:17-18
(Zedekiah and Assir) had a son, but that the latter had only a daughter, who
married a man of the family of her father's tribe, according to the law of the
heiresses, Num 27:8; 36:8-9-namely Neri, who belonged to the tribe of Judah and
family of David. From this marriage sprang Shealtiël, Malkiram, Pedaiah, and
others.
The eldest of these took possession of the property of his
maternal grandfather, and was regarded in law as his (legitimate) son. Hence he
is described in 1 Chron 3:17 as the son of Assir the son of Jeconiah, whereas in
Luke he is described, according to his lineal descent, as the son of Neri. But
Shealtiël also appears to have died without posterity, and simply to have left a
widow, which necessitated a Levirate marriage on the part of one of the brothers
(Deut 25:5-10; Matt 22:24-28). Shealtiël's second brother Pedaiah appears to
have performed his duty, and to have begotten Zerubbabel and Shimei by this
sister-in-law (1 Chron 3:19), the former of whom, Zerubbabel, was entered in the
family register of the deceased uncle Shealtiël, passing as his (lawful) son and
heir, and continuing his family. Koehler holds essentially the same views (see
his comm. on Hag 2:23).
(from Keil &
Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic
Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
The word for "governor" is most likely a Persian word giving him the authority of the Gentile power.
Hag 1:1
Zerubbabel was pechâh, a Persian governor.
The real meaning of this foreign word is still a disputed point.
(Note:
Prof. Spiegel (in Koehler on Mal 1:8) objects to the combination attempted by
Benfey, and transferred to the more modern lexicons, viz., with the Sanscrit
paksha, a companion or friend (see at 1 Kings 10:15), on the ground that this
word (1) signifies wing in the Vedas, and only received the meaning side, party,
appendix, at a later period, and (2) does not occur in the Eranian languages,
from which it must necessarily have been derived. Hence Spiegel proposes to
connect it with pâvan (from the root pâ, to defend or preserve: compare F.
Justi, Hdb. der Zendsprache, p. 187), which occurs in Sanskrit and Old Persian
(cf. Khsatrapâvan = Satrap) at the end of composite words, and in the Avesta as
an independent word, in the contracted form pavan. "It is quite possible that
the dialectic form pagvan (cf. the plural pachavooth in Neh 2:7,9) may have
developed itself from this, like dregvat from drevat, and hvôgva from hvôva."
Hence pechâh would signify a keeper of the government, or of the kingdom
(Khsatra).)
(from Keil & Delitzsch
Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database.
Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
It was to Zerubbabel that the responsibility was
given to physically build the Second Jewish Temple!
The second prominent Jew Haggai was to address at God's request was Joshua the High Priest.
Hag 1:1
he high priest Joshua (Yehooshua', in Ezra
3:2,8; 4:3, contracted into Yeeshuua') was a son of Jozadak, who had been
carried away by the Chaldaeans to Babylon (1 Chr. 5:41), and a grandson of the
high priest Seraiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had caused to be executed at Riblah in
the year 588, after the conquest of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:18-21; Jer
52:24-27).
(from Keil & Delitzsch
Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database.
Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
Joshua (Jehovah saved) is in Hebrew what Jesus is in Greek. The plan of God is found even in the names used.
He was the religious head of Israel at this first return. It was to Joshua that the responsibility was given to re-establish kosher (right - acceptable to God) worship in the Second Jewish Temple. Blood sacrifice had to be done lawfully, honorably, and be acceptable to God in this Second Temple as it was in the First Temple. Seventy long years had passed. Joshua was responsible to do it right! His heart had to be right. His cloths had to be right. His methods and moves had to all be right. His helpers had to all be supervised to do everything correctly. Error was not allowed on the Temple Mount. Purity and holiness in everything was the unbreakable rule of Temple worship and sacrifice.
It is no wonder that God referred to both Zerubbabel and Joshua as His Two Olive Tress who would build and establish kosher worship in the Second Temple.
Zech 4:2-14
2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
8 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.
KJV
There are another Two Olive Trees mentioned in the Bible. In fact, it is the only other reference to Two Olive Trees in all the Bible. It is the Two Witnesses of Revelation chapter 11. It is not surprising that these Two Olive Trees are mentioned within the context of another Temple. When John wrote this vision the Second Temple had been destroyed by the Roman General Titus. The Temple John measures must be future. It must be Ezekiel's Temple (Ezekiel 40 - 48) a Temple more magnificent than all that proceed it. A Temple waiting to be built at this the second return of Israel. These Two Olive Trees will build and establish kosher worship in this Third Jewish Temple!
Rev 11:1-4
11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
KJV
These Two Olive Trees will have
3 1/2 years to accomplish their ministry. They will witness to the fact that God
has changed dispensations. A great change will have taken place. As big a change
as the New Testament was to the Old Testament. Now the reverse happens to which
these Two Olive Trees will witness and
testify. A change back to the Old Testament. The Jews are back in the land! The
next step can only be the building of a Third Jewish Temple. This is the task of
these Two Olive Trees of Revelation. They will
be the two anointed ones of Zechariah as were Zerubbabel and
Joshua. They will have the same responsibility. They will make Haggai one of the
most contemporary books in the Bible.
.
Haggai 1:2
2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built.
KJV
The God of the Bible has many titles. One title He does not have is Allah. Here, He calls Himself the LORD Of Hosts. Yahweh of Hosts! The term is military, and signifies great power in war. A potentate to be feared should He decide to settle any matter with force. Haggai is reminded that though this be the era of the Gentile, and though Israel be small in comparison to the Gentile powers. Israel's God is the LORD of Hosts! Should He decide to intercede, the Gentile powers would succumb in short order. They were no match for the God of the Bible, the God of Israel. Their very existence hinged only on the longsuffering of God, and the fulfillment of His plan in Christ! That plan included Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple.
Missionaries and pastors find themselves overwhelmed in the world where they minister. Their voice is but nothing when compared to what the world says. The culture is always monstrous in every ministry. In America the voice is small compared to the radio, the TV, the movies, the newspapers, the magazines, the internet etc. etc. The era of Gentile power makes the man of God tremble in insignificants. Yet, it is the LORD of hosts whom we serve. They prosper only at His pleasure, and their prosperity is fleeting and worthless. False Christianity flourishes in this generation especially. The Apostate Church is growing in leaps and bounds. It thrives in this last era of Biblical ignorance where the most outlandish claims are made by the Apostates building the the greatest, false, Apostate Christian Church in history. The fastest growing arm of this Great Apostasy is the Charismatic element. They have high-jacked "born again" with the blessings of the Evangelicals so the apostasy of even this term has become Anathema, Maran-atha within Charismaticisma.
1 Cor 16:22
22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
KJV
1 Cor 16:19-24
If any man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be Anathema, Maran-atha. Here observe,
1. The person
described, who is liable to this doom: He that loveth not the Lord Jesus Christ.
A meiosis, as some think; he who blasphemes Christ disowns his doctrine, slights
and contemns his institutions, or, through pride of human knowledge and
learning, despises his revelations. It stands here as a warning to the
Corinthians and a rebuke of their criminal behaviour. It is an admonition to
them not to be led away from the simplicity of the gospel, or those principles
of it which were the great motives to purity of life, by pretenders to science,
by the wisdom of the world, which would call their religion folly, and its most
important doctrines absurd and ridiculous. Those men had a spite at Christ; and,
if the Corinthians give ear to their seducing speeches, they were in danger of
apostatizing from him. Against this he gives them here a very solemn caution.
"Do not give into such conduct, if you would escape the severest vengeance."
Note, Professed Christians will, by contempt of Christ, and revolt from him,
bring upon themselves the most dreadful destruction. Some understand the words
as they lie, in their plain and obvious meaning, for such as are without holy
and sincere affection for the Lord Jesus Christ. Many who have his name much in
their mouths have no true love to him in their hearts, will not have him to rule
over them (Luke 19:27), no, not though they have very towering hopes of being
saved by him. And none love him in truth who do not love his laws and keep his
commandments. Note, There are many Christians in name who do not love Christ
Jesus the Lord in sincerity. But can any thing be more criminal or provoking?
What, not love the most glorious lover in the world! Him who loved us, and gave
himself for us, who shed his blood for us, to testify his love to us, and that
after heinous wrong and provocation! What had we a power of loving for, if we
are unmoved with such love as this, and without affection to such a Saviour?
But,
2. We have here the doom of the person described: "Let him be
Anathema, Maran-atha, lie under the heaviest and most dreadful curse. Let him be
separated from the people of God, from the favour of God, and delivered up to
his final, irrevocable, and inexorable vengeance" Maran-atha is a Syriac phrase,
and signifies The Lord cometh. That very Lord whom they do not love, to whom
they are inwardly and really disaffected whatever outward profession they make,
is coming to execute judgment. And to be exposed to his wrath, to be divided to
his left hand, to be condemned by him, how dreadful! If he will destroy, who can
save? Those who fall under his condemning sentence must perish, and that for
ever. Note, Those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ must perish without remedy.
The wrath of God abides on every one who believes not on the Son, John 3:36. And
true faith in Christ will evermore be productive of sincere love to him. Those
who love him not cannot be believers in him.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition,
Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers,
Inc.)
The Charismatic of today who follows the
likes of Benny Hinn or Pau Crouch are the same who followed the Bakkers who went
before. They turn "born again" into a lie. They dishonor Christ with their lies.
They have added false doctrine to the simple gospel. They are no better then the
cults and denominations who went before them with another gospel. A gospel of
Mary worship, of man centered goodness, of becoming gods, and here speaking
gibberish as evidence. The simple gospel of Christ has been added to by these
Anathema, Maran-athas. It is a new gospel designed for this last
age of the Church. The one that the LORD of hosts says He would spew them from
His mouth. Rev 3:16 - So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold
nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. They will be spued from God's
mouth. It will be at the rapture when they will be spit out and left behind!
What they did to "born again" will be their condemnation for all eternity. They
never have been, nor ever will be part of the true Church. Those who were
victimized came out when the truth was revealed. The rest stayed in loving the
lie more then they loved Christ!
It is all so true what the Bible says about this last generation of the Church age!
Matt 24:12-13
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
KJV
1 Tim 4:1-2
4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
KJV
We need to be reminded as much as those of the first return that
the God we worship is the LORD of hosts. Our voice against this tide is
small, but the God we represent is Great. He is not Allah. He is the LORD of
hosts.
Israel found itself in a very difficult situation. Globalization had occurred under Nebuchadnezzar at this first return. He had become the head of gold. All other nations including Israel had either yielded or succumbed to his power. It was a Gentile world, and would remain as such until the LORD of hosts changed it. The second Kingdom following Nebuchadnezzar was now in power. Israel would have to function within this new power stucture.
Jer 27:8
8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand
KJV
They were understandably discouraged. When they did work on the Lord's house it was with a shovel in one hand and a sword in the other. The pressure from the world was to take care of yourself and survive. Do not be provocative to the powers that be. Go with the flow. Do not make waves. Building a Jewish House of God was a big wave in that globalized Gentile world.
It is as big a wave today as globalization is reaching the same intensity as it was at that first return. It is going to take a Zerubbabel and Joshua to accomplish the same task today. It has not been 70 years, but 27 X 70 since a Jewish Temple stood on the same spot where Zerubbabel built the Second Temple. It will certainly need God to take control. The building plans are already laid in Ezekiel 40 - 48. The method of worship is already laid out in the Old Testament. What is needed are two sanctified men of God to rightly follow those plans. They will need special inspiration to do the job in a kosher way. It must be done right. It must be done with perfection. It will take a very special hand of God to accomplish such a task. Such a special hand of God is revealed in the New Testament. It is given to the Two Witnesses of Revelation chapter 11. I believe these are the modern equivalents of Zerubbabel and Joshua. They will stand against world globalization to build the LORD's house, and establish kosher worship within it. Only they could accomplish such a task.We wait today for their call. The true Church must be raptured first. We must step out of the way so God can change dispensations. Apostate Christianity will be left behind to menace these Jewish witnesses to the change. The era of the New Testament Church will end in God's eyes, and Israel will be His focus in this next dispensation. A Temple will be a necessity, and it will be the Two Witnesses who will be given the task of building it, and setting up kosher worship. They will stand against globalization, Apostate Christianity, and Secular Judaism. It will take a lot to get the job done. Discouragement will need to be overcome in this day of the second return as was needed to be overcome in the first. They will have only 3 1/2 years to finish their ministry, and make an end to their testimony. It will then be time for the beast to desecrate their work for the last half of the Tribulation when he declares himself as god.
Rev 11:4-7
4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
KJV
Rev 11:14
4 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
KJV
Go to message #2 - A Work in Progress!
Go to Haggai - a contemporary view
Go to Golden Calf
Edited by DDSrail - May 6, 2001