The Water Breaking Moment?

Illustration Featuring a Pregnant Woman Holding a ClockIn Matthew 24, Yeshua (Jesus) makes an interesting correlation between the end of the age and a woman giving birth. [Matthew 24:8]. As the birth of a baby draws near, the birth pangs intensify, and the timing between pangs becomes shorter and shorter, eventually leading to the climatic moment of birth. The world is now in the middle of a prophetic birthing cycle. No one can deny that the birth pangs have been intensifying , but the key to knowing that birth is near is that moments before a baby is born, the WATER BREAKS. I believe we are about to embark on that pivotal moment in history.

We could very well be experiencing a monumental, prophetic, water breaking event in our very near future,  a gushing outbreak of the outpouring of God’s Spirit and a harvest of multitudes.

When the church age began, every believer was Jewish. However, when non-jewish Cornelius came to faith – the Apostles realized the message of the gospel was not only for the Jewish people, but also for the Gentiles. In the first century, the Jewish apostles gathered in Jerusalem to determine what to do about the issue of Gentiles coming to faith (ironically, today the church is trying to figure out what to do with all these Jewish people coming to faith). But it is in the midst of this meeting, James stands up and quotes Amos 9. We read in Acts 15,

Acts 15:13-18 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, “‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.

When James quotes this passage of Amos 9, it was only PARTIALLY FULFILLED!

If we read this passage in its entirety, we discover these events are now being fulfilled before our eyes.

Amos 9:11-12 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the Gentiles, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.

Amos 9:14-15 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

Along with the Gentiles coming into the Kingdom is the promise that God will restore the Jewish people back to their land and rebuild the waste cities and inhabit them. This prophecy could not be fulfilled unless the Jewish people were first expelled from the land, only to return many years later. This passage in Amos is being fulfilled in our generation.

If we look closely, the central theme of this passage is the HARVEST. In verse 13, Amos says,

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

The Keil – Delitzsch commentary on this particular verse explains it this way.

The ploughman will reach to the reaper.” Even while the one is engaged in ploughing the land for the sowing, the other will already be able to cut ripe corn; so quickly will the corn grow and ripen. And the treading of the grapes will last to the sowing-time, so abundant will the vintage be.

Prophetically, Amos declares that the harvest will be so ABUNDANT, that reaping and sowing will take place simultaneously!

Yeshua (Jesus) describes the world as His great harvest field, and in the parable given in Matthew 13, He says,

Mat 13:24-30 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.‘”

The Lord declared that the wheat and the tares were to grow side by side together. As we see the tares, that is, the evils of this world manifesting, we also need to be mindful the wheat is also ripening right along with it!

Below is a chart of the population of the world since the birth of the Messiah.

population-curve-med

As you can see, the population of the world in the above graph was essentially flat for 1900 years. It took nearly 1900 years to get to the first billion. From the 1930’s to now,  the population grew exponentially to seven and a half billion.

For those first 1900 years, there were an estimated 4-5 billion people that lived on the earth. Let us suppose for a moment, that only ten percent of those 4-5 billion people came to a saving knowledge of the Lord. This would mean for the first 1900 years, an estimated 400,000,000 to 500,000,000 million people in the world came to faith.

Today,  before our very eyes, we are seeing the world’s population grow to over 7 billion people! And if we suppose the same scenario of ten percent, then in our generation alone, there will be 700,000,000 or so people come to faith! This season, we may see nearly double the number of people entering the Kingdom then all 1900 or so years combined! That’s HUGE!

I urge you, brothers and sisters, we are alive for the greatest opportunity that any generation has ever had! Now is not the time to cower in fear — now is the day of salvation! 

I strongly encourage you to listen to my message — This is not the end of the world!

Who is Elam?

I recently received an email in which someone was wondering why I believed so strongly that a strike against Iran is inevitable? I thought I would take the time to answer this Biblically.

There is a unique passage of Scripture in Jeremiah that I believe really points to the current events of our day in relation to Israel and Iran.

Jeremiah 49:34-39  The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.  And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.   For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD. But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

The first question you must ask here is — “Who is Elam?”  This is a brief description of Elam from Wikipedia.

Elam is the name of an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Archaeological evidence associated with Elam has been dated to before 5000 BCE.  According to available written records, it is known to have existed beginning from around 3200 BC — making it among the world’s oldest historical civilizations — and to have endured up until 539 BC. Elam was centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province (which takes its name from Elam), as far as Jiroft in Kerman province and Burned City in Zabol, as well as a small part of southern Iraq. — Source – Wikipedia

So Elam is the modern state of Iran!  

Another question one might ask is — what is the timing of this prophecy?  If you look at verse 39, you’ll see the phrase “shall come to pass in the latter days”.  The phrase “latter days” in Hebrew is “acha-reet-ha-ya-meem” which can be literally translated, “in the end of days”.

As we read this passage, the first act of God is to break the bow of Iran.  What’s interesting to me about this phrase, is that no arrows are mentioned, just the bow. Could this be the breaking of the “threat” of weapons?  Of course this interpretation is totally up for debate.

Then we read about the scattering of the people of Elam.  Most people don’t realize that in 1979 when the Shah was overthrown and an Islamic constitution was instituted, that nearly 4 million Iranians fled Iran and settled around the globe.

Later we read that the sword of the Lord will be sent, and then the establishment of the throne of God in Iran. Right now, we’re seeing an explosion of the gospel in Iran! There’s nearly a million believers in Iran meeting in underground churches — and when these events take place there will be more than enough believers in Iran to bring a full blown revival.

Right now, there’s an Islamic barrier to the gospel, but God says He will remove these barriers by “destroying from thence the king and the princes”.  It appears to me that the fall of the Iranian government, the mullahs and the Ayatollah Khomeini are predicted!

While this prophecy may be connected to the Gog and Magog war of Ezekiel 38, I’m leaning toward it’s connection with Psalm 83. The purpose of war in both passages is to bring forth revival.  For example, Psalm 83:16 says, “Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.”

I believe we are closer to the fulfillment of these prophecies than most people realize, and by no means am I dogmatic about the timing — but I would have to completely ignore the news and the current events of our day not to see the possible connection!

by George Whitten, Watchman in the Wilderness