A Bible Study - From the Journey

Updated 2/6/11

Since we are entering into the period of time that is often referred to as the end times, we are soon going to see the completion of the New Covenant between God and the whole house of Jacob.

Jeremiah 31 : 33 - 34 - "'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord', because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.""

Jeremiah 32 : 37 - 41 - "I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul."

Ezekiel 20 : 34 - 38 - "I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered - with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you. As I judged your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will take note of you as you pass under my rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge you of those who revolt and rebel against me. Although I will bring them out of the land where they are living, yet they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord."

Ezekiel 28 : 25 - 26 - "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will show myself holy among them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. They will live there in safety and will build houses and plant vineyards; they will live in safety when I inflict punishment on all their neighbors who maligned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.' "

Zephaniah 3 : 20 - "'At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,' says the Lord."

Hosea 1 : 10 - "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God'".

Joel 2 : 32 - "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls."

Zechariah 10 : 8 - 9 - "I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before. Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will return."

Amos 9 : 15 - "'I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,' says the Lord your God."

Daniel 7 : 21 - 22 - "As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgement in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom."

Habakkuk 3 : 13 - "You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot."

Acts 1 : 6 - "So when they met together, they asked him, 'Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?'"

Hosea 3 : 5 - "Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days."

Although the beginnings of this New Covenant are discussed in the book of Hebrews with the establishment of Jesus as our Gentle High Priest, we have yet to come to the time when the Lord has inspired His Children to fear Him so that they will never again turn away, nor can we say that Israel lives in safety or that the Lord dwells in Jerusalem among us as King. Also note that the completion of the Covenant is a promise to the whole house of Jacob, and although when we think of the house of Jacob we usually think only of the tribe of Judah (the Jews); there are other Children of Jacob who have been hidden and have wandered among and intermarried with the Gentiles since the collapse of Israel's Northern Kingdom hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, and in the coming days the Lord, who has kept track of the whole house of Jacob, is going to reunite the whole house of Jacob.

Jeremiah 31 : 31 - "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah."

Ezekiel 37 : 18 - 23 - "When your countrymen ask you, 'won't you tell us what you mean by this?' say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph - which is in Ephraim's hand - and the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.' Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on and say to them, 'this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God."

Note: In this Passage God says that He's going to bring all of the tribes of Jacob back to their own land. This land is the promised land that all of the individual tribes of Jacob were promised by God, and this is a territory much larger then the land possessed by modern day Israel. Isaiah 26 : 15 - "You have enlarged the nation, O Lord; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land. " Clearly, this is an event that is going to happen in the future and not one that has already happened in the past. God has kept track of the whole blood line of Jacob for thousands of years, even though many have been hidden and scattered among the nations. Hosea 9 : 17 - "My God will reject them (Ephraim) because they have not obeyed him; they will be wanders among the nations." Ezekiel 5 : 10 - ".... I ..... will scatter all your survivors to the winds."

Now the question is who are the tribes of Jacob who are hidden among the Gentiles?

In the coming days the Bible describes a time when God will come along side His People to win the day. Here are two Passages that I believe describe this same event.

Malachi 4 : 1 - 4 - "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire," Says the Lord Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the Lord Almighty."

Micah 5 : 7 - 9 - "The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for man or linger for mankind. The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which mauls and mangles as it goes, and no one can rescue. Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies, and all your foes will be destroyed."

Now as we compare these two descriptions of what I believe to be of the same future event, one Passage says that the victor will be the remnant of Jacob among the people, and the other Passage says that they will be those who revere God's name. Now of all the people on earth, who could they be who are currently hidden among the Gentiles; who revere the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the kind of numbers that would look like the dew on the ground? Can you think of anyone? Who could the remnant of Jacob be? Could they be anyone else other then Christians?

Now every Christian may not be of the blood line of Jacob since the Bible says that anyone, by faith in Christ, can be engrafted into the Family of God, but I now believe that many if not most are. I believe that when the Gospel goes out it finds the descendants of Judah and the descendants of the lost scattered children of Israel's Northern Kingdom; those who already have the Gospel written on their hearts from ancient days. The chosen, the elect, they are people whose blood line goes all the way back to God's Promise to Jacob, and with God managing the process over thousands of years now anyone could be a child of Jacob and not even know it. Therefore there are the elect, who are part but not the whole of the blood line of Jacob, chosen from within the blood line of Jacob, who the Lord has predestined their salvation based on His Promise to Abraham in order to accomplish His Purposes. Then there are those who came to God in the Old Testament times and later to Christ specifically, as a matter of freewill, who chose by faith to join the Family of God. God, in His Mercy, hunts down the elect to accomplish His Purposes and in order to maintain an ongoing testimony of His Love for mankind, and He then makes His Appeal through the testimony of all of His Children to the lost world. Ezekiel 18 : 32 - "'For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,' declares the Sovereign Lord. 'Repent and live!'" 2Corinthians 5 : 20 - "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."

Let's look at a Passage from the Gospel of John. John 11 : 51 - 52 - "He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one." Who are the scattered children of God that Jesus would die for? Wouldn't they include the scattered tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel who are associated with Ephraim? John 10 : 16 - "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." Ezekiel 37 (above) says that Judah and Ephraim will be one nation with one King. Jesus says that there will be one flock with one Shepherd. Who else, other then the wandering children of Israel, outside of Judah's sheep pen would know Christ's Voice when they heard it and follow Him? Ezekiel 34 : 6 - "My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them." Truly, Christ's Death on the cross makes God's Salvation available to everyone and it's our mission to make disciples of all the nations, however, I believe that those who are the most likely to believe in Jesus are the actual lost sheep of Israel, and that through the Gospel God is bringing together the Jewish nation, the lost sheep of Israel who are scattered among the Gentiles, and all others who will obey Him to make us all one nation with one King. Ephesians 3 : 6 - "This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." Micah 2 : 12 - "I will surely gather all of you O Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people." Zechariah 2 : 11 - 12 - "'Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.'"

Now the question is who specifically is Ephraim?

When Joseph took his two sons to Jacob for their blessings, Jacob gave the greater blessing to the younger son Ephraim. Genesis 48 : 19 - "But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations." OK now let's think. Name a group of nations who have traditionally revered God's name whose people have been chased around by the sword of religious persecution? Clearly, there is a very distinct possibility that some of Ephraim, is hidden among the Gentiles in the English speaking world.

You're probably wondering where I'm going with this. Why is this Ephraim stuff important?

Well in Hosea God expresses His Fierce Future Anger specifically towards Ephraim.

Hosea 10 : 13 - 14a - "But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors, the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that your fortresses will be devastated - ........" Then later in Hosea chapter 11 God remembers His deep love for Ephraim and He promises not to come in wrath and totally destroy us; although sadly I believe that the pain, suffering, sorrows, and grief that most all of us will experience in the coming days, even among God's People, will be far beyond what we would ever expect would be allowed by our Heavenly Father. Micah 4 : 6 - "'In that day,' declares the Lord, 'I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief.'"

In the days to come, as soon as God gets our attention, we must trust Him and earnestly follow Him throughout the struggle with repentant hearts, and this next passage indicates that we will. Hosea 11 : 9 -11 - "I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not a man - the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. They will follow the Lord; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like birds from Egypt, like doves from Assyria. I will settle them in their homes," declares the Lord." Clearly, this passage in Hosea refers to future events and not ones from the past. The past judgement against Ephraim sent them to wander, but sometime in the future God is going to bring them back into their homes and reunite them with the tribes associated with Judah. (Note: If the tribes associated with Ephraim are made up of Christians and thus the Christians and the Jews are going to be united back into one nation during the end times, then there's little chance that the Christians or the Jews will be spared from the end times discipline by a pre-Tribulation rapture.) Further, I believe that this Lion's Roar is seen in Revelation 10 : 3 - "and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke.". Revelation 10 : 7 - "But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets." (Note: This verse sets the specific time frame for when the Mystery of God, the reuniting of Jacob's children, will be accomplished, and also note above the number of prophets who spoke about this coming reunion of Judah with Israel who will be ruled from Jerusalem by the coming King.)

Although I believe that the reuniting of the 12 tribes of Israel, which will involve Christians from the wandering tribes of Jacob, is described in Revelation 10, I also believe that even before that, members from 11 of the 12 tribes will be identified in the sealing of the 144,000 servants of God seen in Revelation 7. Many people refer to them as the 144,000 Jews sealed by God, but with a closer inspection you'll see that it's actually 12,000 sealed from 11 different tribes with one tribe receiving a double portion, so only 12,000 will actually be from Judah. Don't be surprised if many Christians all around the world are sealed in this service to the Lord, and since the Lord is the one who has hidden us I would also not be surprised if the 144,000 is represented generously by all of the peoples on earth. Ezekiel 34 : 6 - "My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them." Genesis 28 : 14 - 15 - (the Lord speaking to Jacob) - "Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Amos 9 : 9 - "For I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground."

For years I personally believed that the Body of Christ would be raptured from the earth sometime before God's Wrath is poured out in Revelation 16 since 1Thessalonians 5 : 9 says very clearly that, "... God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." However, recently I realized that Revelation 12 : 6 indicates that some Christians and Jews, those from the whole house of Jacob, will live through the last of the end times days of God's Wrath, but they will be protected by God from the beast in a place that God has prepared for them, though I believe that the Lord's Refining Fire will certainly test those who are taken to safety from the beast in order to forge the Jews and the Christians into one; while those who love Jesus who do not make it to this place of safety will still be saved from God's Wrath by being physically killed sometime during the end times period which would also include being killed by the beast for refusing to take his mark. (Note: It is by far better to die as a follower of Christ and soon after death awake as God's Child then it is to accept the beast's mark, live a few short miserable extra days under God's Horrible Wrath, and then awake to suffer in Hell as an enemy of God.) For many death will be God's Way of sparing them from living through the days of His Wrath. Isaiah 57 : 1 - 2 - "The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death."

(Note: The Son of Man's involvement in the end times does not make sense if you limit His participation in the end times to just His Tribulation ending Revelation 19 : 11 - 20 / Matthew 24 : 30 - 31 return. In Luke 17 : 26 - 37 Jesus describes how the end times will begin with the Son of Man being revealed and then suddenly destruction will come upon the unaware world. This is clearly a beginning of the end times Passage, and although many Christians today want to see the people in this Passage who are said to be being taken as being raptured, the disciples asked Jesus where the people were being taken to, and Jesus said that it would be a place where vultures gather around a dead body. The obvious inference is that the people who were taken will be the dead bodies that the vultures gather around. How many times will the Son of Man come back and forth from Heaven to Earth during the end times, I don't know, but if the Son of Man is God's Isaiah 49 Servant, who will be discussed later in this Bible Study, then He may be back and forth several times. Luke 17 : 26 - 37 - "'Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.' 'Where, Lord?' they asked. He replied, 'Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.'") (Note: It is possible that people are not suppose to worry about their goods at this time because in these dark times it is likely that civil order will break down and rampaging looters will kill people for their possessions.)

After Jesus rose from the dead the Bible records that He then came back to interact with His Disciples, and sometimes He would come to them but they could not recognize Him for who He was. Mark 16 : 12 - "Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country." The Bible is clear that if anyone tells you that they are the Christ that you should not believe them, and also that in the second half of the Tribulation, during the short time when Satan is given the power to rule on earth, the times after the Lord's Two Witnesses have been killed and then 3 days later brought back to life and taken up to Heaven; in these last of the last end times days even if someone does great miracles and says that he is the Christ you should not believe him. Revelation 13 : 7 says that the devil has been given the power to defeat the Saints, and that he will have a powerful false prophet at his side and my guess is that this false prophet will claim to be Jesus. Furthermore, in these last of the last end times days you are not even suppose to believe that Jesus is nearby even if your good friend tells you that He is. Matthew 24 : 23 - 27 - "At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightening that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." (Note: the Lord's Two Witnesses will be given the power to do great miracles in the first half of the end times, and you should believe what they say in the first half of the Tribulation: See Revelation 11 : 3 - 14.)

If you're still reading.

I further believe that the Bible in Hosea says that God's End Times Messengers, live among the tribe of Ephraim, so God's Messenger may be a follower of Christ found in the English speaking world. Hosea 9 : 7-9 - "The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. The prophet, along with my God, is watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God. They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins." (Note: This warning of coming discipline is aimed at Israel, but if the whole house of Israel includes the Christians then it would line up with the Revelation 3 : 15 - 19 warning of the coming discipline for the end times Church who themselves have sunk deep into corruption and don't even know it. Revelation 3 : 17 says that the end times Church will be blissfully unaware of the Lord's Displeasure thinking that they're rich in the Eyes of the Lord, but instead they are naked, poor, blind, pitiful, and wretched. This is why God's Prophet is considered a fool because these warnings to the people of God's Anger are something far different then what they themselves, being blind, can see. Isaiah 42 : 19 - 20 - "'Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord? You have seen many things, but have paid no attention; your ears are open, but you hear nothing.'" Isaiah 42 : 24 - 25 - "Who handed Jacob over to become loot, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned? For they would not follow his ways; they did not obey his law. So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart." Hosea 8 : 14 - "Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has fortified many towns. But I will send fire upon their cities that will consume their fortresses."

Some may argue that the verses in Revelation 3 (above) that warn of the Lord's End Times Discipline were instead warnings to the first century churches. However, Revelation 3 : 10 mentions an hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on earth. Now if this hour has already come then when was it? Something that would test the whole world would surely be mentioned in the history books. No this testing is still to come.

Further, the Hosea 9 : 7 - 9 passage above says that God's Messenger is His Watchman along with God.

In the Bible God says that He posts His Watchman to see His Judgement coming so that God's Children will be warned to repent. God tells His Watchman to sound the alarm of God's Displeasure with the people or God will not be pleased. Ezekiel 33 : 6 - "But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood."

Along with warnings of judgement the Lord also shares His Plans for the future with His Prophets. Amos 3: 7 - "Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets."

The book of Habakkuk describes how one of God's End Times Messengers is the herald who runs with the end times Revelation that is received by a Servant of the Lord. Habakkuk 2 : 1 - 4 - "I will stand my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it, it will certainly come and will not delay. See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright - but the righteous will live by his faith." (Note: Hosea 9: 7 above refers to an "inspired man", and I believe that He is God's Isaiah 49 Servant who writes down the Habakkuk mentioned end times Revelation as directed by the Holy Spirit for the herald to run with.)

With a close reading of Isaiah we see that there's a difference in timing between when God's Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 49 Servants come. First we see God's Servant in Isaiah 42 : 6 is a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles, but God's Servant in Isaiah 49 : 6 also restores the tribes of Jacob and brings back those of Israel that God has kept hidden among the Gentiles; thus putting His Mission on the time line at the completion of the New Covenant which has yet to take place. Also we see that God is going to use His Isaiah 49 Servant to be a light to bring Christ's Salvation to the ends of the earth which then lines up with the end times harvest that is referred to in Matthew 24. Isaiah 49 : 6 - "He says: 'It is to small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.'" Matthew 24 : 14 -"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Although some believe that Isaiah 49 is referring to Jesus in the flesh, living in His Day as seen in Isaiah 42, if you read Isaiah 49 you'll see that God's Isaiah 49 Servant is from the islands, which is the Bible's reference for land that was not connected to the earth's largest land mass of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Isaiah 49 : 1a - "Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations.........." Clearly the islands are what's closest to God's Servant and all other nations are more distant. Also if you read Isaiah 49 you'll see that, God's Isaiah 49 Servant's name is mentioned by the Lord at birth while Jesus' Name was mentioned before His Birth. Further, Jesus knew that He was God's Servant at an early age where as God's Isaiah 49 Servant is taken completely by surprise by this news, and this news is told to God's Isaiah 49 Servant after many years in service to our Lord. Furthermore, it's service to our Lord that didn't seem to amount to very much at all. (Compare Jesus as a young boy speaking to His Parents when they found Him in the Temple; Luke 2 : 49 - "Why were you searching for me? he asked. Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" to God's Isaiah 49 Servant's response after being called by God. Isaiah 49 : 4 - "But I said, 'I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God.'") Finally, God's Isaiah 49 Servant is hidden from the world in the Lord's Quiver for just the right moment where as the birth of Jesus was announced by visits from angels, a star in the sky, and wise men coming with gifts; and even Jesus as a child was not hidden, but He impressed people in the Temple.

Have you ever wondered why the Lamb in Revelation 5 could not be found right away? Where could the Lamb be hiding other then in God's Quiver? Also Luke 17 says that the Son of Man is going to be revealed on earth just before the end times begin. Again, Luke 17 : 28 - 34 - says, "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. ............. Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.' 'Where Lord?' they asked. He replied, 'Where there is a dead body, the vultures will gather.'". (Note: I believe that someday the Son of Man will be revealed on earth and then He will be taken up to Heaven to begin opening the seals of the End Times Scroll, however, with Christians looking for a coming rapture who would ever believe that someone among us could be the Son of Man? Jeremiah 30 : 21 - "'Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them. I will bring him near and he will come close to me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?' declares the Lord." Malachi 3 : 2 - "But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap."

Although it may not be obvious to everyone, I believe that the Isaiah 42 and the Isaiah 49 Passages are descriptions of two different missions, which are both directed by the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. John 6 : 63 - "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." John 13 : 16 - "I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him." John 13 : 20 - "I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me." John 14 : 20 - "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." John 10 : 30 - "I and the Father are one." John 5 : 20 - "For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these." Although many people can see the end times coming and are watchmen, God's Isaiah 49 Servant is a calling from God that people must not take upon themselves or just assume that they have. If God is going to use someone in this way for the end times He will confirm it in many obviously Holy Spirit driven supernatural ways, and not just a few. It's not good at all to declare that you are God's Isaiah 49 Servant. It must be revealed to others by the Lord.

Hebrews 5 : 2 - 4 - "He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was."

Hebrews 7 : 15 - "And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears,"

In this Habakkuk Revelation God's Isaiah 49 Servant writes down the complaint of God that makes references to the antichrist who is the puffed up one, while God's Isaiah 49 Servant is to live by faith. Habakkuk 2 : 4 - "'See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright - but the righteous will live by faith - ". This Verse is tied to the Passage in Hebrews 10 : 37 - 38 - where a future "righteous one" must live by faith. "For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." In this Passage, "he who is coming," is the antichrist, but God's Isaiah 49 Servant, along with God's Children will contest with the antichrist by faith for lost souls. Even when under intense persecution God's Children should still pray for each other and for the lost. The dark times leading up to when the devil will be given a brief time to rule the world are described in Zechariah 13 : 7 - 9 - "'Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!' declares the Lord Almighty. 'Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land, declares the Lord, 'two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God.'" Those who are still alive to see or hear of this happening must then persevere in their faith in Christ even if it means their death. Matthew 24 : 9 says that some of us will be handed over, by God Himself (Revelation 13 : 7 - 10), to be persecuted and that the love of most will grow cold. This is all a time of testing and refining so please, though it will be miserable, stand strong in your faith and commitment to Jesus with patient endurance until the end. Remember, that it will be those who die for their faith in Christ, who refuse to worship the antichrist, refuse to receive his mark, and refuse to bow down to his image who will be brought back to rule with Christ for 1000 years. But all men who accept the mark, after buying for themselves just a short little time of safety and wicked pleasures, will be righteously killed by Christ when He returns in Revelation 19 and then they will then suffer as enemies of God. Remember how the Children of Israel turned against God during a time of uncertainty when Moses went up the mountain and they didn't know when he would be coming back? Remember how God destroyed the rebellious ones when Moses returned? God saved just the faithful remnant, so please if you live through these uncertain times, commit to being a part of the faithful remnant who are watching for Christ's final return in the clouds and who will be saved and seen as precious in the Lord's Sight.

But there is a problem for God's Isaiah 49 Servant. The book of Revelation says in chapter 22 verse 18 - "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book." Note, God uses a different standard for those who take away from the Revelation compared to those who add to it. For those who take away it's no eternal life, but for those who add to the Revelation it means living through the plagues of His Wrath in the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It's possible to add to the Revelation and still be redeemed in the end by the Lord, but God's Isaiah 49 Servant must be sure that it's the Lord who is leading and what is written must be confirmed by the Lord's Second Watchman's Testimony. This is why it's by faith that God's Watchman writes down the Habakkuk Message. Psalm 127 : 1 - "Unless the Lord builds the house, it's builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain."

God has an unseen purpose for His Isaiah 49 Servant to live through the plagues of His Wrath, like He had a purpose for Job to be tested, but God will come to the rescue to deliver His Servant and His People. Habakkuk 3 : 13 - "You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot."

Further, God's Isaiah 49 Servant is seen in Matthew 22 : 11 - 14 - as coming to the wedding feast without wedding clothes. In the passage, the King calls His Servant "friend", but nonetheless God's Friend is thrown into God's Wrath for adding to the Revelation where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Later in Revelation 16 : 15 we see the Lord coming for His Isaiah 49 Servant - "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."

Micah 7 : 7 - 9 speaks of God's Isaiah 49 Servant - "But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord's wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness." (Note: this Passage is obviously not referring to Jesus' first coming since He lived a sinless life, and was sacrificed as a Spotless Lamb, but this is the same Light of Life described in Isaiah 53 : 11 - "After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; ........")

Micah 7 : 9, above, says that God's Isaiah 49 Servant will sin and bear the Lord's Wrath, and I believe that the confession of this sin is mentioned in Psalm 73 : 21 - 28 - "When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds."

How will we know who God's End Times Servants are? They will be the ones upheld by the Lord. Isaiah 44 : 24 - 26 - "This is what the Lord says - your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers."

(I have so much more that I would like to write, but I fear that even what I've written so far may be more then many can bear, and I don't want to break any wineskins with new wine, needlessly. Matthew 9 : 17 - "Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.")