Mirror, Mirror on the Wall :: By Grant Phillips

Published on: by RR7 Category:General Articles, Grant Phillips

Mirrors have been around a long time. Today they are made of glass, but the earliest were made of various metals and even stone. Perhaps even earlier, someone noticed their reflection in a pool of water. Viola! Mirror!

I’ve never seen a woman that didn’t like a mirror. You know, “Vanity, of vanities.” Before I get in too deep, I had better follow up by saying men can’t seem to do without them either, maybe not quite as much, but still guilty.

We all know how it is in the morning after we awake. One of the first things we do is check ourselves out in front of the bathroom mirror. You’re thinking, “My goodness, what is that looking back at me! Is this a freak show?!”

Now, if we all got up the next morning like they did in the older movies, we would all look good. Did you ever notice they had not a hair out of place? The women still had their makeup and lipstick on, and of course, no one had “morning foul mouth.” Even their pajamas were still pressed!

It isn’t like that here at our house. How about yours? I do know my wife and I really love each other because we can rise to meet a new day, and she always looks like a princess to me.

Anyway, back to mirrors. We use mirrors basically to view what we can’t see without one. Isn’t that right? There is no way I can see my face without some kind of mirror. I might look okay, or I might look like something the cat hacked up.

Have you ever wondered what God sees when He looks at us? The thing is, God doesn’t just see our face; He sees our heart, and what does He say about it?

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Now that’s an eye-opener. That’s like a teenager getting up in the morning and discovering a new zit when looking in the mirror. Horror of horrors! And today’s a school day! Argh!!!

Be that as it may, that’s what God sees. Nevertheless, the Scriptures tell us how to fix it. No, not the zit, the heart! Following is one of three Scriptures I would like to share, and I will do so first in the Kings James Version (KJV) and then the New Living Translation (NLT). The NLT will make it so much easier to understand, and I will do this for the next two Scripture passages also.

“For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:23-25, KJV).

“For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it” (James 1:23-25, NLT).

This verse says to “look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free.” So, what is the “perfect law”? James is referring to the law of righteousness that the apostle Paul addressed in Romans 9:30-33. It is simply the law of grace and living by faith in Christ. The Jews missed it because they wanted works of the law to supersede just exercising faith. Believe me; they were gung-ho on works. It’s in the Bible.

We can start right here changing that ole ugly heart, by living by faith in the Lord, day after day. The Spirit of God lives in each Christian, so allow Him to actually live through us and glorify Jesus. In His doing so, it will change us, which is just what we see in the next verse.

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18, KJV).

“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT).

A Christian out of fellowship is a Christian reflecting himself or herself instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we want is to reflect Jesus Christ in how we live. There is an old hymn called Let Others See Jesus In You, and that is where we want to be in our lives. In other words, we want to be a mirror that will reflect, not ole Grumpy Gus, but the love of Jesus. Maybe by that alone, someone will want to know what we have that is so special … and we can tell them. Our opportunity to witness is open. Now our last verse.

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV).

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT).

As the verse above says, we can’t see everything clearly now, because we still have that old sin nature within us. It’s like looking into one of those very old mirrors that just didn’t show a perfectly clear image.

We have to be careful about this, because Satan will stick anything in front of us, hiding our sinful heart, making us think his way is the right way. However, the Lord wants us to trust Him. He wants to live through each of us and change our heart so that it reflects His righteousness and not ours (we have none independently anyway).

Won’t it be great to wake up in Heaven and see what Jesus wants us to reflect instead of what we think looks good? We all have a little vanity in us, and that is what needs to be removed.

I must share one more verse, and when we step in front of our mirror, this is what God wants to see in us.

“The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: ‘I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts'” (Isaiah 57:15, NLT).

God can clearly see us as we truly are, all the way down to our very soul. He knows us even better than we know ourselves because He sees us as we really are. Isn’t it obvious we need some kind of spiritual mirror to see as He would have us see? Actually, He has made that provision. It’s called the Bible, and He has even made it possible that those who are in Him can understand it. (Read 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.) Now how does He do that? He opens our eyes to the Truth … Himself.

Going back to James 1:23-25 that we read earlier, notice it says, “For if you listen to the word….” The Word (Bible) is our mirror, and we listen to the word with the eyes of our soul.

Now back to 2 Corinthians 3:18, it says, “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see…” God not only provides the mirror, but also the ability to see as He would have us see. (Again, read 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.)

Finally, notice 1 Corinthians 13:12 that we read earlier. “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity…” None of us in these earthly bodies will ever understand everything in the Bible (Isaiah 55:8-9), but there is coming a day when we shall see Him face to face and our eyes will be opened.

No one in their right mind would want to leave their house and go to a fancy party looking like they were trampled by a herd of buffalo. So, all the needed time necessary is spent in front of the mirror.

Shouldn’t every Christian have the same desire spiritually that we have physically? Shouldn’t we spend all the needed time necessary in front of the Mirror before we face the world?

As I said earlier, we use a mirror to see what we cannot see without one. The world hides the truth. The world doesn’t even know the truth. Only in the Word of God can we really see and know the Truth. While we examine our self by that perfect Mirror, the Holy Spirit grooms our soul and perfects us to reflect Jesus Christ in our life.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

America’s Diminishing Role :: By Terry James

Published on: by RR7 Category:General Articles, Terry James

One of the prime points of Bible prophecy, at least from the pre-Trib view, is that America isn’t mentioned in it by name or even in cursory reference. (That’s unless, of course, one sees the reference to the “young lions” in Ezekiel 38:13 as meaning the United States as offspring of “the Merchants of Tarshish,” referring to England.)

This is made even more intriguing when we consider all that we believe is going on in setting the stage for the soon fulfillment of prophecy.

We believe most, if not all, of Paul’s “perilous times” (2 Timothy 3) forewarning is now taking place everywhere we look in our nation—i.e., people are “lovers of themselves,” “without natural affection (abortion and homosexuality)”; they are “fierce” (think “BLM” and “Antifa”), and they’re “traitors” (in reference to the Deep State and others subverting the Constitution), etc.

All these things are, as I like to term them, “America-centric,” in their composition. America seems to be at the center of all the earlier-mentioned stage-setting.

Then we have this president stunning the world, really, with a peace arrangement that no one but perhaps he and a few others saw coming. It’s a stage-setting reality that is indeed profound.

To convince so many within the Arab world to come along with the plan Mr. Trump, Kushner, and the others of the administration have put together is just nothing short of phenomenal. It’s phenomenal when we think about the absolute volatility of the Israel haters within the Arab world, which is so heavily influenced by the chief terrorist regime, Iran (ancient Persia).

So America is at the center of most all primary activity as far as the current ebb and flow of issues and events. That makes it more than a curiosity, really, why God chose not to make this apex nation of history (so far as worldly achievement is concerned) the main focus of prophetic national disposition. Yet America is overtly omitted by name in biblical prophecy.

Why did I title this commentary: “America’s Diminishing Role”?

Again we come to what I see as the strangest presidency in our history. Certainly this is true, it’s reasonable to conclude, because we’re so near the end of this age (Age of Grace/Church Age). The prophetic Word tells us it will be so as the time of Christ’s return nears. Looking around, we’re not disappointed. Things are getting stranger and stranger.

One of the ironies, if that’s what we may call the strangeness, is that this president exerts the most powerful influence on the issue of Middle East peace as any leader ever. At the same time, he’s determined to pull out of that region to an extent that no other leader has attempted since much earlier days when isolationism ruled within American diplomatic spheres of influence. For example, he has announced troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and other areas, much to the chagrin of those in the defense department who are supposed to serve at his pleasure.

Trump doing so, as a matter of fact, constitutes one of the reasons the so-called Deep State opposes his every move. They like to determine such things and have always been able to do so with the cooperation or the acquiescence of those occupying the White House. It’s all part of the power wielded by the military-industrial complex President Dwight Eisenhower forewarned about.

America’s influence in the world, then, despite it being front and center in most every prophetic signal of the approaching Tribulation, is diminishing. The very president put in place by God to serve at this crucial time is an “America-First” chief executive, yet he also is withdrawing the nation from the most focal area of Bible prophecy—even while formulating a peace initiative that might lead to the very covenant Daniel prophesied.

The following news excerpt highlights this dichotomy within Mr. Trump’s presidential action.

Turkey and Iran are engaging in new operations in Africa… It is important to understand that this is in the context of the US generally reducing its global role and comes around 60 years after European colonialism was rolled back…

An article at The National in the UAE in May revealed that Iran has begun to play a role with military proxy groups in the Central African Republic (CAR). The article revealed that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force has played a role in cultivating “terrorist cells.” It has operated, funded, trained and directed proxy groups. Its role and influence in Africa is still far from mapped and known but the article implies it has recruited figures in the CAR and elsewhere. Iran has also been active in Nigeria and also in South Africa and Hezbollah has been active in West Africa…

An article at Al-Ain also asserts that Turkey and Qatar are now working to exert influence in Africa. The article asserts that Qatar has been trying to do influence peddling in Tunisia and that Qatar’s Defense Minister Khalid al-Attiyah has been coordinating with Turkey’s defense minister in discussions about Libya and Tunisia. They want to establish a “joint military training center” in Libya. (Seth J. Frantzman, “Turkey and Iran Are Engaging in New Operations in Africa,” Rapture Ready News, September 18, 2020)

With the key Ezekiel 38–39 players blatantly moving to fill the vacuum developing in the region because of America’s withdrawal—Iran (ancient Persia) and Turkey (much of what comprised ancient Togarmah)—it becomes quite clear that America, although prophetically scheduled to diminish, is nonetheless most prominent in this pre-Rapture era. It will, it’s therefore logical to conclude, take a dramatic set of circumstances to remove the nation so influential in the world power arrangement.