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1. Judaeo-Christian Messianism ~
Beginning with Genesis and continuing through the Revelation of St.
John, the Hebrew prophets spoke forth in Jehovah's name to promise
their downtrodden countrymen divine deliverance from their
oppressors.
The Bible contains 1,817 predictions in 8,352 verses; the Old
Testament includes 1,239 predictions in 6,641 verses, and the New
Testament contains 578 predictions in 1,711 verses, for a total of
27% predictive material. This multitude of prophecies assures the
Jews and Christians that God will deliver Israel from its enemies
and itself and build it into a glorious empire to which a conquered
world will be subject.
Christians hold the Bible to be the infallible word of God, but
several passages in the book caution against taking prophecies as
gospel: I Samuel 9:9; Jeremiah 23:11, 14, 16, 25-28, 30-32, 40;
Deuteronomy 18:22; Matthew 7:15-23; ibid., 13:57; ibid., 24:5, 23,
24. Ezekiel 3:17-19 defines the prophets' task:
"Son of Man, I have
made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear
the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
"When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die: and thou
givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his
wicked ways, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in
his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
"Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wicked
way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy
soul."
Insanity is often
concomitant with prophetic ability. According to Hosea 9:7, "The
prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man is mad." Jeremiah 29:26
described his fellow prophets as "every man that is mad", and in II
Kings 9:11, the prophet Elijah is called a "mad fellow" for his
bizarre behavior. Yet there is method in their madness: the whole of
Jewish and Christian belief predicts a personal, enlightened, and
divinely appointed king --- the Messiah --- by whom the Holy Kingdom
of God will be established.
"Messiah" is the Anglicized form of the Hebrew word
Mashiah
(anointed). The use of the word derives from its reference to Aaron
and his sons, who were anointed with oil and consecrated to the
service of Jehovah (Exodus 28: 41). The High Priest of Israel was
titled "The Mashiah of God" (Leviticus 4: 3, 5, 16) and the Jewish
kings were "the Anointed of the Lord" (I Samuel 2: 10, 35, etc.).
Some of the prophets also were anointed (I Kings 19: 16). The
prophetic concept of a Messiah first appears in Isaiah 11: 1-12:
"And there shall
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall
grow out of his roots:
"And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;
"And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the
Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
"But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove
with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the
earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked.
"And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and
faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie
down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the
fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
"And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and
the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den.
"They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the
earth shall be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters
cover the sea.
"And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles
seek; and his rest shall be glorious.
"A shoot out of the stock of Jesse" refers to a genealogical or
spiritual descendant of the royal Davidic lineage.
The Jewish Messianic
program calls for two Messiahs. The first, Messiah ben Joseph, will
be killed in Jerusalem by Armilus (the Antichrist). He will be
resurrected by Messiah ben David, who will kill Armilus in turn.
In Sefer Ta'am Z'qenim, Eliziezer Askenazi transmitted an explicit
Jewish prophecy, first recorded by Hai Gaon (938-1038 AD), which
describes to the two Messiahs:
"When eight years
will be left of the years of the end, which are the years of the
beginning of the redemption... a man will rule over Israel for
not less than nine months and not more than three years. At that
time a man will arise from among the Children of Joseph... and
he will be called Messiah of God. And many people will gather
around him in Upper Galilee, and he will be their king... But
most of Israel will be in their exile, for it will not be clear
to them that the end has come. And then Messiah ben Joseph, with
the men who rally around him, will go up from Galilee to
Jerusalem, and they will slay the procurator of the king of
Edom, and the people who will be with him... And when all the
nations hear that a king has risen among the Children of Israel
in Jerusalem, they will rise up against them in the other
countries and will expel them, saying:
"Until now you were with
us in faith, and so that you should have neither king nor
prince; but now that you have a king you must not dwell in our
land."
"And many of Israel will go out into the desert... and will
dwell there in tents, and many of them will lack bread and
water... and they will suffer in accordance with their deeds.
And many of them will leave the covenant of Israel, for they
will become weary of their lives...
"And when Messiah ben Joseph and all the people with him will
dwell in Jerusalem, Armilus will hear their tidings and will
come and make magic and sorcery to lead many astray with them,
and he will go up and wage war against Israel, and will defeat
Messiah ben Joseph and his people, and will kill many of them,
and will capture others, and divide their booty.. And he will
slay Messiah ben Joseph and it will be a great calamity for
Israel... Why will permission be granted to Armilus to slay
Messiah ben Joseph? In order that the heart of those of Israel
who have no faith should break, and so they will say:
"This is
the man for whom we have hoped; now he came and was killed and
no redemption is left for us."
And they will leave the covenant
of Israel, and attach themselves to the nations, and the latter
will kill them.
"And to those who are left in the land of Pathros, Messiah ben
David will reveal himself...
"And most of the slain will be in the land for forty days. When
Messiah ben Joseph is killed, his body will remain cast out for
forty days, but no unclean thing will touch him, until Messiah
ben David comes and brings him back to life, as commanded by the
Lord. And this will be the beginning of the signs he will
perform, and this is the resurrection of the dead which will
come to pass. And then Messiah ben David and Elijah and Israel,
who come from the deserts to Jerusalem, will sit in peace and
safety for many days, and will build houses and plant vineyards,
and they will succeed in herds and property, until Gog will hear
their tidings... And the Land of Gog and Magog is of the Land of
Edom... And they will come to fight and they will wage war
against Jerusalem and Messiah ben David, and Elijah and all the
people who are in it..."
The Jewish Sephir Zohar
(2:7b) contains a similar prophecy:
"Sufferings will
overtake Israel, and all the nations and their kings will
consult together against her, and many evil decrees will arise
and will bring trouble upon trouble, and each subsequent one
will cause the earlier to be forgotten. And then a pillar of
fire will appear, positioned from Above to Below for forty days,
and all the nations of the world will see it. At that time King
Messiah will be stirred up to come forth from the Garden of
Eden, from that place which is called Bird's Nest. And he will
arise in the Land of Galilee. And on the day on which he comes
there the whole world will tremble, and all the children of the
world will hide in caves and crevices, and will think that they
cannot be saved... The Messiah will arise and reveal himself in
the Land of Galilee because that was the first place to be
destroyed in the Holy Land; therefore he will reveal himself
there of all places, and from thence he will stir up battles in
the whole world.
And after the forty
days in which the pillar of fire will stand from the earth to
heaven in the sight of the whole world, and the Messiah will
reveal himself, there will arise from the east a star flaming
with all colors. And seven other stars will surround that star
and attack it in battle from all sides, three times every day,
for seventy days, and the children of the world will see it. And
that star will wage war against them with arrows of flaming fire
which will erupt on all sides, and it will crush them until it
swallows them every evening. And in the morning it will disgorge
them, and they will again wage war against it in the sight of
the whole world, and thus every day for seventy days. And after
the seventy days that star will be hidden, and the Messiah will
be hidden for twelve months.
And that pillar of
fire will return as before, and in it the Messiah will be
hidden, and that pillar will not be visible. After twelve months
they will raise the Messiah in that pillar to the firmament, and
there he will receive power and the crown of kingship. And when
he descends, that pillar of fire will again be visible as before
to the eyes of the whole world. And thereafter the Messiah will
be revealed, and many nations will gather against him, and he
will stir up wars in the whole world. And at that time the Holy
One, blessed be He, will manifest His power against all the
nations of the world, and King Messiah will become known in all
the world, and all the kings of the world will rise up to wage
war against him. And many of the wicked among the Jews will join
them and come with them to wage war against King Messiah. And
then the whole world will darken for fifteen days, and many of
the People of Israel will die in that darkness..."
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2. Jesus Christ
In the Bible, Jesus never called himself Messiah, except once by
implication (Matthew 22: 41). Although Jesus often spoke of God as
Father and himself as the Son, he never used the expression Son of
God as a title for himself. Evangelists, however, use the term
freely when referring to Jesus.
As the Suffering Messiah, as he is so often described, Joshua of
Nazareth or Jesus Christ fulfilled many prophecies in the Old
Testament. Jesus also prophesied at length and in detail concerning
the "latter days" of civilization. The prophetic message of the New
Testament is to announce His imminent return to redeem the prodigal
family of humanity after it has been tested and purified in hell on
earth.
The time preceding the return of Christ will be characterized by
degeneracy and apostasy. Unbelievers will mock the promise of
Christ's Second Coming. (I Timothy 4:1; II Timothy 3:1 & 4:3; II
Peter 3:3; II Thessalonians 2:3, and Luke 17:26). Christ will appear
in the spirit before doing so in the flesh.
The first mention of the Second Coming of Christ is found in Psalms
96:13. It is also mentioned or described in the following citations:
Acts 1:11; I
Chronicles 16:33; Colossians 3:4; I Corinthians 1:7 and 15:23;
Daniel 7:13; Hebrews 9:28; Isaiah 2:2, 4:1, and 26:21; James
5:7; John 2:28 and 14:3; Jude 1:14; Luke 9:26 and 17:20;
Zephaniel 1:12 and 3:8; Malachi 3:1; Mark 8:38; Matthew 16:27
and 24:30; I Peter 1:7; Revelation 1:7, 12:5 and 19:11; I
Thessalonians 1:10, 2:19, 3:13, 4:15 and 5:23; II Thessalonians
2:1; I Timothy 6:14; II Timothy 1:10 and 4:1; Titus 2:13;
Zechariah 14:5; and Zechariah 1:12 and 3:8.
Jesus' own prophesies
about the Apocalypse are recorded in Mark 13, Matthew 24:1, and as
follows from Luke 21:
"And he said, take
heed that ye be not deceived, for many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not
therefore after them.
"But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not
terrified, for these things must first come to pass; but the end
is not by and by.
"Then he said to them, nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom:
"And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines
and pestilences: and fearful sights and great signs shall there
be from heaven.
"But before all these, they shall lay their hands upon you, and
persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into
prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's
sake.
"And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
"Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what
ye shall answer:
"For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your
adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
Jesus elaborated further
in Luke 12:11 and in Matthew 10:16:
"And ye shall be
betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and
friends; and some of you they shall cause to be put to death.
"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
"But there shall not an hair of head perish.
"In your patience possess ye your souls.
"And when ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then
know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
"And let them which are in Judea flee into the mountains: and
let them which are in the midst of it depart out: and do not let
them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
"But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give
suck, in those days! For there shall be great distress in the
land, and wrath upon the people.
"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 time of the Gentiles be
fulfilled.
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring:
"Mens' hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those
things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven
shall be shaken.
"And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory.
"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, till
all be fulfilled.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away..."
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3. The Resurrection & Rapture
The Advent of the Messiah, the Great Day of Judgment, and the
Resurrection of the Dead are cornerstones of the Jewish and
Christian faiths. Ideas about the Resurrection began to develop from
a possible misinterpretation of Ezekiel 37. However, his vision of
the Dry Bones restored to life more properly symbolizes Zionism, the
Restoration of the Jews to Israel. This prophecy was transformed and
projected into a necromantic hope for the revival of the righteous
dead so that they too can enjoy the good life on Earth with Jesus.
The idea of the Resurrection goes to show that people will believe
anything, provided it's incredible. Yet it may well happen anyway,
for nothing is impossible to God:
"Many of them that
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
(Daniel 12:2)
"The dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they
arise. Awake and sing ye that dwell in the earth... and the
earth shall cast out the dead."
(Isaiah 26:19)
Another important
element of New Testament prophecy is called the Rapture or
Translation, in which event faithful Christians will be removed from
the Earth. Many Christians believe that the Rapture will be timed to
rescue them from the misery of the Apocalypse. But according to
Matthew 24:31, the Rapture follows the Apocalypse:
"Immediately after
the tribulation of those days... then shall appear the sign of
the Son of man in heaven... and he shall send his angels with a
great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather his elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other".
This promise is
reaffirmed in I Corinthians 15:51-52:
"Behold, I show you
a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised up
incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality."
There is no difference
between the Resurrection and the Rapture except that one refers to
the dead and the other to the living. Both the dead and living in
Christ will be transformed into immortal bodies. The Rapture of the
living Christians is prophesied by other Bible authors. Mark 13:27
merely repeats Matthew 24:31; Luke 17:34-36 is more original:
"I tell you, in that
night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,
and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding
together; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left;
two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the
other one shall be left.
"The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God, and the
dead in Christ shall rise first.
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever
be with the Lord."
(I Thessalonians
4:16 )
The Biblical Rapture has
taken on a modern form in the Great Exodus or World Evacuation
project that is planned as a mission of mercy by extraterrestrials
to rescue some earthlings from harm in the event of a global
disaster. The Space Brother Kuthumi explains it thus through a human
channel:
"The situation is
greatly related to international affairs. It cannot be
dogmatically determined the exact nature of the event that will
precipitate these crucial events. Whether a panic button
reaction or a polarity that cannot be maintained, when a certain
critical point is reached in planetary affairs, the changing of
the auric color and magnetic field surrounding the earth will
automatically trigger the plan into action.
"The unpredictable element of human action must be considered.
The freedom of will of humanity prevents any actual knowing of
the moment and time when these things will occur, for the action
and reaction of humanity to given influences and situations are
a key factor. The onset of war on a devastating level would be a
crucial incident, which would then precipitate intervention of a
cataclysmic nature. Geological factors taking place within the
orb itself are an intricate part of the triggering action. The
combination of both of these events would trigger the first two
phases of evacuation immediately in a secret manner. The third
phase would follow shortly thereafter. For the third phase is a
public occurrence, while the first two are covert maneuvers, to
insure their completion...
"The Space Confederation has announced that the coming
evacuation will not necessarily involve landings except in rare
isolated areas. They have measured the hostility factor within
the core of your protective forces... It was determined that in
most cases, a large majority of these forces would openly attack
us and fire upon us in the event of our appearing. This they
would do even in disastrous circumstances and disrupt rescue,
thinking it to be some form of invasion.
"We are therefore forced to forsake almost all landings... and
to resort to the invisible levitation plan...
"As the scenario reaches its final stages it will be experienced
as a great time warp. Time will appear to stand still in some
experiences and in others, to feel like entire lifetimes in
hours, moments, or days...
"The Great Evacuation will come upon the world very suddenly.
The flash of emergency events will be as lightning that flashes
in the sky. So sudden and so quick in its happening that it is
almost over before you are aware of its presence. And so it will
be when events that warrant this action have come to this
planet. It is not possible to totally describe these events, but
it is possible to instill at this time into the hearts of
humanity the hope and the knowledge of our vigilance and
emergency actions on their behalf." (8)
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4. Ezekiel
When the Jews returned to Israel after World War II, they fulfilled
several prophecies of the rebirth of that nation: Obadiah 17; Isaiah
11:1 and 35:10 and 36:8-12, 24. Ezekiel's famous vision of the Dry
Bones restored to life (37:1-12, 21) has been interpreted as
foretelling both the restoration of the Jews to Israel and the
Resurrection of the Dead.
Ezekiel also had a vision of "Gog and Magog." The name
Gog is the
Hebrew equivalent of the Assyrian Gugu (Gyges, king of Lydia, ca.
670-653 BC) in the extreme north of Asia Minor. Noah's sons Mesech
and Tubal settled there after the Deluge (Genesis 6-10). Today the
area is part of Russia. Gog, Mesech, and Tubal are the prophet's
symbolic names for Russia, Iran, Turkey and
Armenia as described in
Ezekiel 38 and 39:
"And the word of the
Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog,
the land of Magog, the chief prince of Mesech and Tubal, and
prophesy against him.
"And say, thus saith the Lord God; behold, I am against thee, O
God, the chief prince of Mesech and Tubal.
"And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I
will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horse and horsemen,
all of them clothed in all sorts of armor....
"Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them... Gomer and all his
bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarter, and all his
bands: and many people with thee.
"Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy
company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto
them.
"And after many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years
thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the
sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains
of Israel, which have always been waste; but it is brought forth
out of all nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
"Thus saith the lord God; it shall also come to pass, that at
the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt
think an evil thought:
"And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled
villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely,
all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor
gates.
"To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon
the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people
that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle
and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
"Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the
young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take
a spoil? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey, to take
away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a
great spoil?
"Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith
the Lord God; in that day when my people in Israel dwelleth
safely, shall thou not know it?
"And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,
thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses,
a great company, and a mighty army:
"And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud
to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will
bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I
shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
"Thus saith the Lord God; art thou he of whom I have spoken in
old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied
in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
"And it shall come to pass at the same time when God shall come
against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury
shall come up in my face.
"For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken;
Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of
Israel;
"So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and
the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon
the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth,
shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown
down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall
to the ground.
"And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my
mountains, saith the Lord God; every man's sword shall be
against his brother.
"And I will plead with him with pestilence and with blood; and I
will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people
that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones,
fire and brimstone.
"Thus I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be
known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am
the Lord.
"Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus
saith the Lord God; behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief
prince of Mesech and Tubal:
"And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of
thee, and will cause you to come up from the north parts, and
will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel.
"Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all
thine bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee
unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the
fields to be devoured.
"And I will send a fire upon Magog, and among them that dwell
carelessly in the isles; and they shall know that I am the Lord.
"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth and
set on fire and burn the weapons, and they shall burn them with
fire seven years:
"So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut
down any of the forests, for they shall burn the weapons with
fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob
those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I shall give unto
Gog a place there of graves, a place of graves in Israel, the
valley of the passengers on the east of the sea, and it shall
stop up the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury
Gog and his multitude; and they shall call it the valley of
Hamon-Gog.
"And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them,
that they may cleanse the land.
"And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing
through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain
upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it; after the end of
seven months they shall search.
"And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a
man's bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers
have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-Gog.
"And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they
cleanse the land."
In short, if the
Russians and allies invade Israel, they will be destroyed. Eighty
per cent of the invaders will be annihilated. The Israelis will burn
captured weapon stocks instead of cutting down trees for firewood.
The dead will be buried in the valley of Hamon-Gog; the undertakers
will be at the task for several months.
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5. Joel
The prophet Joel lived in the 8th century BC. Prophecies make up 68%
of his 73 verses, warning us of these latter days (Joel 2:1-11, 20,
21, 28-31 & 3:1-2, 9-21):
"Blow ye the trumpet
in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the
inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh,
for it is nigh at hand;
"A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of
thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a
great people and a strong; there hath not ever been the like,
neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many
generations.
"A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth:
the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a
wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
"The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as
horsemen, so shall they run.
"Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they
leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the
stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
"Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces
shall gather blackness.
"They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like
men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they
shall not break their ranks:
"Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in
his own path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not
be wounded.
"They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the
wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in
at the windows like a thief.
"The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble:
and the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall
withdraw their shining:
"And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his
camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word:
for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible...
"But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will
drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward
the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his
stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he
hath done great things.
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my
spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men
shall see visions:
"And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days
will I pour my spirit.
"And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood,
and fire, and pillars of smoke.
"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
"And it shall come to pass, that whomsoever shall call on the
name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in
the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall
bring again the captivity of Judah and
"I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into
the valley of Jehosaphat, and will plead with them there for my
people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered
among the nations, and parted my land...
"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the
mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up!
"Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into
spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
"Assemble yourselves together round about: thither cause thy
mighty ones to come down, O Lord.
"Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of
Jehosaphat: for there will I sit to judge the heathen round
about.
"Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you
down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their
wickedness is great.
"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day
of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
"The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall
withdraw their shining.
"The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from,
Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the
Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the
children of Israel...
"Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate
wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah,
because they had shed innocent blood in their land.
"But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation
to generation.
"For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed; for
the Lord dwelleth in Zion."
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6. Zechariah
This prophecy is attached (but not attributed) to Zechariah (13:8,
9& 14:1-9):
"And it shall come
to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein
shall be cut off and die, but the third part shall be left
therein.
"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will
refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is
tried: and they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I
will say, it is my people and they shall say, the Lord is my
God.
"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoils shall be
divided in the midst of thee.
"For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and
the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women
ravished; and half the city shall go forth into captivity, and
the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
"Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations,
as when he fought in the day of battle.
"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives,
which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives
shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the
west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the
mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward
the south.
"And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the
valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall
flee, like as ye fled before the earthquake in the days of
Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all
the saints with thee.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not
be clear, nor dark;
"But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not
day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time
it shall be light.
"And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go forth
from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of
them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter it shall be.
"And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day
there shall be one Lord, and His name one.
"And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all
the people that have fought against Jerusalem; their flesh shall
consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes
shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall
consume away in their mouth."
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