The Claw

Chapter 10. The First And The Last

I told you this morning that we were going to build a timeline tonight. What will this timeline do? If we construct it properly it will tell us the day in which we are living. Can we know the approximate time when Jesus will return to set up his kingdom?

Our scriptures tonight start in the Revelation, chapter 1, verse 11. In this verse the Lord reveals himself to be the Alpha and Omega which means the beginning and end. Is that right?

How many here believe Alpha and Omega to be beginning and end. When Jesus introduced Alpha and omega he said, 'first and last'. Later in chapter 22 he states beginning and end, and first and last.

What is he trying to tell us by saying first and last before even mentioning beginning and end?
I had to know why he started with first and last. As I always do, I prayed. As he always does he answered me.

God reminded me of Numbers chapters 13 and 14. Moses has lead Israel to the banks of the promised land. God tells Moses to send spies into the land of Canaan. He sends one from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. The spies are in Canaan for 40 days. What does first than refer to? It refers to the first time that Israel enters the land of promise. By the way it is not Palestine. It is Canaan. God named it, not man. What does Canaan mean? Land flowing with milk and honey. Other meanings are merchant or trader which would be to say rich land.

When the spies return from Canaan they have seen cities with walls and giants and are scared to take the land for fear of being killed. Caleb and Joshua represent the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Their report is positive. If the Lord delights in us we can take the land, 14:8.

The people believe the 10 instead of the 2. The decision is made. No promised land for the people. When the people refused to have a vision for their future God was unhappy and made a decision of his own. The people wanted to return to Egypt and slavery rather than to face giants.

Israel entered the promised land at least four times. They would not believe in God. Instead they rebelled against him over and over. They would wind up in bondage and loose their land and then eventually return.

What did God tell the people? Your carcases will fall in the wilderness. All of you age 20 and older shall die in the wilderness and your children shall wonder in the wilderness for 40 years, one year for each day you were searching the promised land.

Here God gives them 2 important numbers. You can read this information in Numbers 14:29 through 34.

What are these 2 numbers? What do they represent? The number 20 is representative of a person coming of age. At age 20 God sees an adult responsible for being able to make a decision. A 20 year old person can see and remember what he saw. A 20 year old person is responsible for having faith in God and believing what God says. God was speaking through Joshua and Caleb. A righteous heart would see in the spirit and know in the spirit what God was saying. That righteous man would then follow God and not his own fear.

The number 40 is representative of a period of time. In this case God is using 40 to mean generation. It is imperative to understand this. This is not the only time that he uses 40 to represent a generation. To me this may be the most important time. Why? Because if we miss this meaning we will miss what God is trying to tell us.

Now we can look at the Gospels.
In Luke 21:29 through 32. God introduces the fig tree into the equation. What was the fig tree? The fig tree is Israel. Read the prophets in the old testament and you will see that Israel is both the fig tree and the olive tree. Jesus talks about the fig tree being rebirthed in verses 29 and 30. There are really 2 phases to this. The Second World War ended in 1945. The Jews were not released from the prison camps until 1947. In 1947 they began their March to the Holy Land. In 1948 Israel was declared a nation.

Verses 31 and 32 tell us, 'when ye see these things come to pass,' and, 'this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled.

Jesus is using these two passages to describe the first event that will occur and the generation of people that are seeing with faith believing. Once again when he uses the word sees or see, he is talking about the generation. Would God suddenly change and use a different number for the age of people? He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Therefore, if 20 and older was good in Moses time it will be good for today. Simply speaking Jesus told us that the 20 year old's and older would be the generation that would see Israel birthed in 1947 and 1948, and would be alive to greet Jesus at the mount of Olives when he comes to set up his kingdom.

Joshua and Caleb were the remnant of that generation in Moses time. That means then that a small remnant of people that were 20 years old and older in the forties will be there on that day.

How do we know? Let's now finish our timeline. Today in Israel nearly 100,000 people are in that age group. What group? In 1947 they were 20 and that was 70 years ago. 70 plus 20 is 90 years of age.

They will have to survive the deadliest 7 years in history. During that 7 years most people will cease to exist. 90 plus 7 is 97 years old.

Let's check our math. When we subtract a number from a larger number we check our work by adding the number subtracted to the new number. If those two numbers added together equals the larger number we are correct.

Therefore, we start out with 12 tribes in Israel minus the 10 tribes that did not believe. We end up with the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. In Israel today Benjamin and Judah exist. The other 10 tribe's are scattered all over the World. Those 10 tribes are being persecuted around the World. We have now checked our math. It is true! Our timeline has been set! Are you ready to meet Jesus? He will be shouting, 'come up hither,' very soon.
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He gave the alter call and of the 400 in attendance nearly 200 came forward. Pray the prayer of salvation and you can also escape, 'all these things which shall be dissolved.'

"I come to you Lord a sinner. Please forgive me of my sins through Jesus' blood shed on the cross. Please make me your child. I will live for you each day. Thank you, Lord in Jesus name, Amen." If you prayed that prayer you are God's child.

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On Monday, Pastor Perkins spoke about the rule of two. On Tuesday he talked about repentance. No nation can survive without it.

On Wednesday he spoke about current events. He stated that Jesus was disliked by the people and so was Moses. We should never judge a person based on if he is liked. God's people are usually disliked by the World.

At the end he said, "there will be two announcements in one day. Some will cry when they hear them. But the World will rejoice. There will be kaos for a time. Then an apparent peace.

God says, "peace with safety, then cometh sudden destruction."

"I will never see you again. Meet me on the other side of the Jordan."

The people stood and cheered for a while. In the 5 meetings there were over 2000 in attendance, with over 800 decisions for Jesus.

The appointed time is now! Amen.