Daniel Whyte III
Let’s take a quick look at today’s prophecy-related headlines which point towards the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the end of the world as we know it.
First, today, under the Sign category of WARS & RUMORS OF WARS — According to Jerusalem Online, the Syrian campaign is gaining strength and pressing closer to Israel. Assad’s forces are starting to bite at the strongholds of the Syrian rebels in the area close to the Golan. At this stage, they aim at pushing away the danger posed by the attempts of two separate groups of rebels to join forces. But, there are signs, that the attack has a more ambitious goal – to reclaim the border with Israel.
Second, today, under the Sign category of WARS & RUMORS OF WARS — According to the Associated Press, U.S. intelligence officials said in an updated estimate of a top terrorism concern that foreign fighters are streaming into Syria and Iraq in unprecedented numbers to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or other extremist groups, including at least 3,400 from Western nations among 20,000 from around the world. Nick Rasmussen, chief of the National Counterterrorism Center, said the rate of foreign fighter travel to Syria is without precedent, far exceeding the rate of foreigners who went to wage jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any other point in the past 20 years. U.S. officials fear that some of the foreign fighters, who come from 90 countries, will return undetected to their homes in Europe or the U.S. to mount terrorist attacks.
Third, today, under the Sign category of WARS & RUMORS OF WARS — According to CNN, President Barack Obama asked Congress on Wednesday to formally authorize the use of military force in the war against ISIS. Lawmakers on Wednesday morning received a draft Authorization for the Use of Military Force — a resolution that would formally authorize a six month U.S. military effort against the militant group. The resolution is expected to give the President a three-year authorization of military force to fight ISIS and is expected to sunset the 2002 authorization of military force that spawned the Iraq War.
Fourth, today, under the Sign category of DISTRESS AMONG NATIONS — According to the Associated Press, France’s justice minister said the government has dismantled about 15 terrorist networks as part of its wide-ranging campaign to eradicate terrorism within the country’s borders. She said France is looking at the sophisticated propaganda, indoctrination and methods used to recruit terrorists, including social media and video games. She also told the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee that international action is essential to combat the increase in terrorist attacks.
Fifth, today, under the Sign category of DISTRESS AMONG NATIONS — According to US Naval Institute News, while Russian military aircraft have stepped up their activity everywhere from the North Sea to the Baltic to the Black Sea in the last year they have also been spotted more frequently closer to U.S. territory in the Arctic. U.S. Northern Command Admiral Bill Gortney said, ‘They’ve been very aggressive in the amount of flights.’ Since the March seizure of the Ukrainian region of Crimea by Russian forces Moscow has significantly stepped up air patrols in Europe, Asia and near the Americas.
You can read these stories in more detail and get more prophecy-related news at SecondComingHerald.com.
The prophetic passage of Scripture we are looking at today is Leviticus 26:14-16 which reads: “But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning fever, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.”
Allow me to share with you some commentary on this passage from the Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary, edited by Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson.
At verse 14 the passage segues from blessings to curses. Every curse is conditioned upon Israel’s covenantal disobedience. Disobedience and infidelity to the Mosaic Covenant will yield the exact opposite of the previously enumerated blessings. Yahweh will not be snubbed by His people. The terms used here, “reject” and “abhor”, convey the strongest level of faithlessness and contempt. In meting out these curses upon Israel, the blessings the nation had previously experienced would reverse, unraveling one by one. Indeed, the curses seem to be simply a removal of the blessings, the realistic outworking of the absence of divine intervention in the daily life of Israel.
Although Israel was to experience a limited measure of these curses during the Assyrian and Babylonian oppressions, the nation did not experience the totality of these curses until their two revolts against Rome in A.D. 70 and A.D. 135. Sadly, the prediction concerning Israel’s perpetually tenuous situation in their dispersion has unquestionably proven accurate for the past two millennia.
The passage describing the curses closes with a curious explanation for the continuance of Israel’s suffering. The text states that the Jewish people will continue to suffer not merely for the sins of their distant ancestors, whose behavior triggered Israel’s dispersion from the land, but also for their own sin committed while in exile. Because the Jewish people were exiled from their land by the Romans in A.D. 70 and A.D. 135, the only specific sin that could sufficiently satisfy the text’s double criteria for both ancient Israelites to have committed in the land and for their subsequent descendants to continue to have committed outside the land would be the sin of rejecting their Messiah, Jesus.
If the Lord tarries His coming and we live, we will continue looking at the prophetic passages of the Bible in our next broadcast / podcast.
Our second coming quote for today is from George Eldon Ladd. He said, “Jesus is now the Lord; He is enthroned at the right hand of God; He is reigning in His kingdom. But this is a Lordship and a kingly reign which is known only to believers. It must be confessed by faith. His Second Coming will mean nothing less than the Lordship which is His now will be visible to all the world. When we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ this is what we are praying for: the effectual and universal rule of Christ in all the world, not only over believers.”
If you are not ready for the return of Jesus Christ, may I encourage you to get ready today by receiving Him as your Savior. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will. Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Keep looking up for your redemption draweth nigh. Let us join in the prayer of John the Revelator — “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” God bless you.
Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry which publishes a monthly magazine called The Torch Leader. He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica for over twenty-seven years. God has blessed their union with seven children. Find out more at www.danielwhyte3.com. Follow Daniel Whyte III on Twitter @prophetdaniel3 or on Facebook.
