It’s a Matter of Perspective

I began writing this 20 minutes after the earthquake that was to end all earthquakes had failed to herald the end of life as we know it. No Judgment Day. No Rapture. Life goes on. So as you look at the lack of transpired events, don’t jump to conclusions based on a faulty perspective. One, and only one, influential and misguided man does not represent the Church. Nor does he represent the theological position most of Christianity holds so dearly. His perspective was only his, and as seen, was flawed.

There was another faulty perspective, one illustrated in a military campaign from the biblical times. A couple of millennia ago, there was a king in Jerusalem who was surrounded by an invading army from Assyria. Let’s start with comments from one of the Assyrian King’s lieutenants:

Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is this confidence that you have? But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? Have I now come up without the LORD’S approval against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”  (2 Kings 18:19, 22, 25)

Now it is true that Hezekiah had taken away the high places and altars. But there are three huge assumptions based on a faulty perspective at work here.

They were not the high places and altars of the Lord God; rather they belonged to false gods from other cultures who were foolishly worshipped at times by the Jews. Now it came about in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done. He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. (2 Kings 18:1-4)

Hezekiah may have said: “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”, but his understanding came from what the LORD had said to David: He said to me, “Your son Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts” (1 Chronicles 28:6); and to Solomon: The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. (1 Kings 9:3) Where the LORD’s house and courts were, where He had placed His name, and where His eyes and heart perpetually were, that is where His worship must be.

The third misconception derived from this flawed perspective was that he, the King of Assyria, had been called by God to destroy the Jews.

Later in the confrontation we catch him contradicting himself:

Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. “Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you from my hand; nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ‘Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ‘Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’” (2 Kings 18:28-30, 33-35)

So at one point the king of Assyria was saying he was following the Lord’s command to destroy the Jews, and the next he’s relegated the LORD with some backwater, tribal, false demigods. Why obey such a random and obscure supposed deity?

By now you’re probably asking: What does this have to do with the judgment day? I’m glad you asked. Hopefully you’ve seen that the king of Assyria and his lieutenant have a pretty messed up perspective as did the man predicting the massive earthquake that was to have happened today. I’m asking you to not suffer the same mistake.  Don’t get your perspective from one solitary man.  Get your perspective from Christ.

Judgment Day is coming. The Rapture is coming.  Jesus is coming… just not today.  Hear the words of Christ, trust Him, and get your perspective from Him:

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.  Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. (Matt 24:36-44)

So did we dodge a bullet? No, because the gun was never fired. When Mr. Camping proclaimed: “The Bible guarantees it”, he was right; he just had no business of assigning a date. You still have an opportunity to come to Christ today; to confess Him as Lord today. That’s why the Judgment Day didn’t come today. There are still some, maybe you, on whom the Lord God is waiting to come to Him.

No, Jesus didn’t come today. Judgment Day didn’t fall upon us, nor did Rapture raise us. Still, I join with the Apostle Paul as he cries out at the end of his letter to the Corinthians: Maranatha! (Our Lord come).

Former Major General Paul Vallely (retired) talks about intelligence reports that point to a possible massive attack against Israel this Summer.  He says those attacks could include biological weapons.  The Major General says that under the plan, suicide bombers and Hezbollah soldiers will invade Israel from the north through tunnels while scud missiles launched from Lebanon rain on Israel.

IF these reports are true and IF Iran launches this attack through it’s proxies in Syria via Hezbollah, I fear for Damascus.  In Isaiah 17, God has a severe warning for the city of Damascus.  That it will be destroyed.  It will be laid to ruins.  Damascus is considered by most to be the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city.  This prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.  If the General is correct and Hezbollah launches a biological, chemical, or even nuclear attack (including dirty nukes) on Israel, Israel would most assuredly send an unmistakable message.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, pray that Muslims would continue to come to faith in Jesus, and pray that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah would have the sense not to attack Israel this Summer, or ever.

The most amazing thing about Easter is, He didn’t stay dead!  The tomb is EMPTY.  He is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Now, Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for the saints.  If you believe in your heart that Jesus died for you and rose again, and you confess it with your mouth, the Bible says in Romans 10:9 & 10 that you are saved!

Jesus is praying for you.  His ministry is active on the Earth.  We received the most amazing e-mail this morning.  Some of the specifics we can not share, but some we can.  It was a prayer request.  I don’t know what country they were righting from, but they are preaching to Muslims and Muslims are coming to Christ!  They are praying for protection.  Here is a part of the e-mail so you will know how to pray:

We would like to share with you that our Lord Jesus has given a burden and vision in our lives to REACHING SPECIFICALLY TO THE MUSLIMS BY HIS GOSPEL.  Therefore, we have submitted our lives into His hands to be used according to His will and guidance in our lives.  As we are continuously sharing & witnessing about Jesus to our Muslim neighbors, He is touching and speaking to their hearts.  The Muslims are being open to The Gospel of Christ and being interested to know more about Him.   Several of them surrendered their lives to Jesus and they are worshiping  Him in Truth & Spirit.  Praise His holy name!

The believers are living under the fatwa (threats) of fanatic Muslims, but our Living God has protecting them for His glory.

Humbly, we are requesting you please pray for God’s guidance and protection in our lives & specially for the believers .  They are in great need of your kind prayers in their lives.

Please join your prayers with ours for protection for these servants of God who are risking their lives for the sake of others.  That God would not only protect them, but bless them with His presence and power!  That the ministry would grow and many many more hearts would receive eternal life through Jesus Christ!

Pray for the new believers.  That they would be protected from those who would want to do them harm.  That their precious faith would grow!  That God would fill them with His peace and His strength.

Happy Easter!  He is Risen indeed!