General Articles

Impossible :: By Daymond Duck

Published on: by RR7

I wrote this article because I expected to be away from my computer and unable to keep up with current events for a few days.

The coronavirus changed that.

I understand this article is longer than usual.

Most of it is setting the stage for the way it ends.

The book of Romans begins, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:1-4).

Notice that Paul said Jesus and the gospel of God were promised by the prophets in the holy Scriptures.

The first coming of Jesus, His death, burial and resurrection are not things that the early church or anyone else made up.

They are things that God promised to do and that God had the prophets write in the holy Scriptures before they happened (Rom. 1:2).

Some verses of Scripture actually teach that God planned the first coming, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus before He created this world (I Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8).

The written prophecies begin in the Garden of Eden with God’s promise that the Seed of woman (a miraculous virgin birth) would bruise Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15), and they continue all the way through the Old Testament to the end of the Book of Malachi.

As an expert in the holy Scriptures, Paul would have been aware of most or all of the recorded prophecies.

He focused his attention on what some prophets said about Jesus.

Concerning His (God’s) Son Jesus Christ our Lord, the prophets said He was made a descendant of King David according to the flesh (Rom. 1:3).

We can read in the Holy Scriptures that two prophets (Samuel and Jeremiah) said that the Messiah will be a fleshly descendent of King David and He will sit on the throne of David forever (II Sam. 7:12-13; Jer. 33:17).

Put another way: The prophets wrote in the holy Scriptures that the Messiah would come as a human being in the line of King David.

This is the humanity of Jesus, the virgin birth of Jesus, how God made it possible for Jesus to die.

There was a time when Jesus couldn’t die (He couldn’t die until He took on a body of flesh).

Since He has been raised from the dead, He will never die again.

There will be a time when we can’t die (After we are raised from the dead, we will never die again).

But we don’t get our new eternal bodies when we die (We will get them on that great resurrection day).

The prophets said God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord would come in the flesh as a descendant of King David.

To be clear: God didn’t have to select two descendants of King David to be the earthly parents of the Messiah.

But God inspired Samuel and Jeremiah to prophesy that the Messiah would be a descendent of King David, and God had that written in the Holy Scriptures for people to have a record of it before it happened, so God needed to pick two descendants of King David (He picked Joseph and Mary) to be the earthly parents of Jesus to fulfill what Samuel and Jeremiah wrote.

God also recorded the genealogy of Joseph in the Book of Matthew and the genealogy of Mary in the Book of Luke to verify that Jesus is a descendant of King David according to the flesh.

Let’s take this a step further.

The prophet Moses wrote that Shiloh (the Messiah) would come from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10).

There were 12 tribes of Israel that God could have picked a couple from to be the parents of Jesus.

But the people that God picked (Joseph and Mary) were from the tribe of Judah.

God picked them to fulfill what is written in the Holy Scriptures.

There is more.

God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord was born in the flesh as a descendant of King David.

But He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4).

“Declared” means appointed or identified.

Jesus was identified as the Son of God with a powerful sign.

The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead.

That didn’t happen to a lot of people, so there should be no question about Jesus being the Son of God.

I want to expand on this.

Jesus is God, the Creator; He always existed, but Jesus didn’t become a descendant of King David until the virgin birth.

This earth was about 3,000 years old before King David was born.

During those 3,000 years, Jesus was God, but Jesus was not a descendant of King David.

Jesus was not even a descendant of King David during the life of King David.

King David was dead almost 1,000 years before Jesus became a descendant of King David.

Jesus became a descendant of King David according to the flesh when He was born of Mary in that stable.

Jesus didn’t lose His position as God when He was born in the flesh.

Jesus just added or took on the position of a human being.

The Son of God became both God and Man; divine and human; the God-Man; the Messiah; God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord when He was born in a stable.

King David is famous for prophesying several things about the death of Jesus in the 22nd Psalm.

He even prophesied that Jesus would be crucified before crucifixion was invented.

When the Church began on the Day of Pentecost, Peter said it was impossible for death to hold Jesus (Acts 2:24).

Peter preached that the prophet King David foresaw Jesus and said that God would not let His Holy One suffer corruption (Acts 2:25-27; Psa. 16).

“Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:29-32).

The Holy Spirit’s resurrection of Jesus from the dead was God’s declaration that Jesus is the Son of God.

Since God swore that Jesus would be raised from the dead and sit on David’s throne and had it written in the Holy Scriptures, it was impossible for that not to happen.

If it didn’t happen, God lied, all prophecy in the Scriptures isn’t true, or whatever.

But it is not possible for God to lie and the prophecies to be wrong.

Peter and many others witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus.

But what about Jesus sitting on the throne of David?

Jesus had to be raised from the dead if He is ever going to sit on the throne of David.

Where was the throne of David?

It was on earth in Jerusalem.

And since Jesus hasn’t yet sat on the throne of David on earth in Jerusalem, it is impossible for that not to happen in the future.

Jesus will come back and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords in Jerusalem.

In closing: It is impossible for Israel not to get the Promised Land (Gen. 17:7-8), impossible for Israel not to get Jerusalem, impossible for the Rapture not to happen (I Thess. 4:13-18), impossible for there not to be a Tribulation Period (Dan. 9:27), impossible for there not to be a global economic collapse during the Tribulation Period (Rev. 6:5-6), impossible for there not to be a devastating global pandemic during the Tribulation Period (Rev. 6:7-8), impossible for every jot and tittle of all of the prophecies written in the Holy Scriptures not to be fulfilled.

It is also impossible to go to heaven, if one doesn’t truly accept Jesus (Jn. 14:6).

Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc.
Daymond & Rachel Duck
duck_daymond@yahoo.com

The Coronavirus Global Pandemic… What’s Next? :: By Britt Gillette

Published on: by RR7

In less than three months, COVID-19 (a.k.a. the coronavirus) has spread from Wuhan, China, to over a hundred countries and six continents. To stop the virus, Wuhan went into full lockdown mode on January 23. The drastic measure led to a drop in cases, but the city still remains under quarantine to this day. On March 9, the entire nation of Italy followed Wuhan’s example. The government closed all businesses except grocery stores and pharmacies. Since then, France and Spain have announced similar measures. As mobs of panicked shoppers strip store shelves bare, and police and military personnel impose forced quarantines and border checkpoints, other nations around the world are expected to follow the same course of action. So, what’s next? How will all this end? Is this how the world ends?

The World Will Survive This

These are difficult times, but the coronavirus pandemic doesn’t herald the end of the world. In fact, the first chapter of my most recent book The End Times, presented a scenario just like the one we’re facing now. Here’s what I wrote about the multiplying threats to humanity:

“Consider just one of those modern-day threats – a global pandemic. Could a contagious disease kill a billion people? Yes. History is filled with stories of plagues that kill on a mass scale. The 14th Century Black Plague is probably the best-known example. But we’ve had others. For instance, one hundred years ago, the world struggled against a relentless enemy – H1N1, also known as “the Spanish Flu.” Rising from the trenches of World War I, it spread to every corner of the globe in 1918 and 1919 – even remote Pacific islands… When the global pandemic finally came to an end, it had taken more lives than the Great War itself. H1N1 killed an estimated 50 to 100 million people – approximately 3% to 6% of the world’s population. Today, if a disease killed 3% of the world population, it would leave 230 million people dead. That’s almost the entire population of Indonesia – the fourth most populous nation in the world.”

A global pandemic like the one we’re experiencing now isn’t unprecedented. It’s terrible, but it’s happened before. The world will survive, and the human race will survive. How can I be so sure? Because God says so. Through the Bible, God describes our future. He’s told us what’s coming. And the Bible says the world will NOT come to an end – ever. The earth is eternal (Psalm 78:69), and the human race will exist for all eternity (Psalm 23:6).

What will come to an end is this present age. The world as we know it will not go on forever. All the things we hate about this world – war, greed, lust, murder, jealousy, injustice, and evil – will all come to an abrupt end. A new age will begin. One of love, peace, justice, mercy, and kindness. An age where Jesus Christ physically reigns as King of the earth (Revelation 20:6).

Expect Trying Times

Until that day comes, the earth will experience great hardship. When this global pandemic ends, odds are you’ll know someone who died from the coronavirus. Compounding the problem, the economic impact will be massive. Airlines have already canceled thousands of flights. The cruise ship industry is fighting for its life. Thousands of restaurants are closed. If things don’t change soon, countless businesses will go bankrupt, and millions of people will lose their jobs. The economic pain will be severe. How long will it be until everything returns to normal? It could be months. It could be years. No one knows.

But you can be certain of one thing. If you know Jesus, you’re equipped to handle it. Jesus said, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Through Jesus, not only can you gain the strength to endure this pandemic (Philippians 4:13), but you can do the work of God (1 Corinthians 15:58) and transform the lives of those around you.

Take Action

While authorities recommend social distancing to stop the pandemic, that doesn’t mean you should sit around and do nothing. God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear and timidity, but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). You can take three bold steps now:

1) Pray – Pray to God. Never underestimate the power of prayer. When the Lord’s people cry out to Him in their trouble, He delivers them from distress (Psalm 107:28). The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power (James 5:16). So be persistent in your prayers (Ephesians 6:18). Have faith, and you will receive what you ask for (Matthew 21:22). Pray for those nations hardest hit. Pray for all nations. Pray for good health and recovery for the sick. And most important, pray God uses this event to bring people to faith in Him.

2) Help Others – Find ways to help those around you. You obey the law of Christ when you share other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). When you give generously to others (Matthew 25:35) or take care of those in need (Luke 10:25-37), it’s as if you’ve done those things to Jesus Himself. If you have an abundance of food or other supplies, look for opportunities to share with those in need (Hebrews 13:16). If you know someone who falls into a high-risk category (those who are elderly and/or with an underlying health condition), find a way to bring supplies to them so they don’t have to go out in public and risk infection. Do the same for anyone else who lacks transportation or can’t get around easily because of a disability.

While you’re doing these things, take every precaution you can to avoid infection. Use the proper personal protective equipment (N-95 mask, goggles, gloves, etc.). Otherwise, you risk spreading the virus to those you’re most trying to help. And that leads us to another important step you can take.

3) Self-Isolate – Self-isolate as much as possible. Even if you’re young and healthy, and you think the coronavirus won’t harm you, stay away from crowds. The best thing you can do for your community and those around you is avoid infection. If you’re not infected, you can’t infect someone else. We all have a role to play in slowing the spread of this virus. If it spreads too fast, our hospitals will be overwhelmed. We won’t have the resources to take care of the sick, and people will die unnecessarily. So if you can, stay home. If you have no reason to go out in public, don’t. If you can work from home, do it. Slowing the spread of the coronavirus will save countless lives.

Take Refuge

While governments around the world issue orders “to shelter in place,” you should take shelter as well. Turn to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Take refuge in Him alone. Psalm 91 says trust in the Lord your God, and He will “rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease” (Psalm 91:1-3). Make the Lord your refuge, and “no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home” (Psalm 91:9-10).

These are difficult times. Many are fearful. But you don’t have to be. Trust in God. Make Him your refuge. He will see you through this time. Fix your eyes on Him alone, and don’t lose sight of our blessed hope (Titus 2:13).

When asked to describe the signs of His coming, Jesus cited pandemics just like the one we’re experiencing now as a major sign (Luke 21:11). The other signs He said to look for are all around us. The Jewish people are back in the land of Israel (Jeremiah 23:7-8)… The Jewish people are once again in possession of Jerusalem (Luke 21:24-28)… And the Gospel is being preached to the ends of the earth (Matthew 24:14)… This means Jesus is coming soon! So take comfort in this time of distress, knowing the rapture of the church is near.

Britt Gillette is author of the free ebook Coming to Jesus as well as the books Signs of the Second Coming, Racing Toward Armageddon, and The End Times. Receive his book 7 Signs of the End Times for free when you sign up for his monthly newsletter.