It’s my opinion that we cannot overemphasize the importance of the Work the Holy Spirit is accomplishing at this moment in history. The Third Person of the Godhead – sent here by the Lord Jesus upon Ascending to the Throne room in Heaven to dwell within each and every believer of the Church Age (Age of Grace) – is presently doing truly phenomenal acts of Restraint.

While, on the surface of Planet Earth, evil seems to be uncontrolled and even uncontrollable, God the Holy Spirit has a Firm Hold on Heaven’s Chain attached to the old serpent’s Collar of Restraint.

We have looked at this supernatural Restraint a number of times in these columns. And doing so should provide a degree of confidence and comfort. God will absolutely not, in this present dispensation, allow Satan and his minions to get away with all their nefarious wickedness. We look in this instance of exactly the kind of holding back the Luciferian plans with regard to a specific, big-time prophetic entity scheduled to be unleashed at some point yet future.

The Scripture, again, that promises God’s Restraint is the following.

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he [the Holy Spirit] who now letteth [Restrains] will let [Restrain], until he [the Holy Spirit] be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked [Antichrist] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (2 Thes 2:7-8).

Nuclear war is, at present, the biggest fear of most every diplomat around the world. It seems to me that the average person – at least here in the U.S. – has nowhere near the fear of a nuclear war as did that of my generation those years ago. I’ve expressed a number of times of being worried as a teenager in high school, reading in the school library during study hall about how the Soviets were threatening to nuke anyone who stood in their way of dominating all of Europe – and anywhere else they wished to dominate.

So, with the diplomats who are supposedly in the know about how serious are the threats made by China, as we will look at here, I should be worried, at least to the extent I was worried as that teenager all those years ago.

But I’m not worried – not in the least. There, of course, is a very good reason. I know what God’s Word has to say about your and my future. Bible Prophecy, to me and to those who view it from the preTrib perspective, provides both the confidence and the comfort I mentioned above.

The prospects a little further out in the future, on the other hand, should terrify with abject fear and dread those who don’t know Jesus for Salvation. Nuclear war is almost a certainty as part of the Tribulation era. And China is, I’m certain, to be perhaps the deadliest of all entities in bringing forth destruction – so far as consideration of human involvement in destruction is concerned.

Bible Prophecy foretells that there will be a force to rival that of the great fuehrer of the Fourth Reich. The power will come from the oriental world. John the Revelator was given the prophecy about this tremendous force by the angel assigned to relay the Message from God’s Throne.

We are told of this military juggernaut in two prophetic passages.

“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them” (Revelation 9:13-16).

“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared” (Revelation 16:12).

This huge military force will approach the occidental world from the far reaches of the oriental world. The numbers are staggering to consider!

China looks at this time in history to be the King of the kings of the east. And they are threatening to invade Taiwan at any time, expressing their willingness to use even nuclear weaponry against the U.S. to accomplish their intention.

The same thing that has kept the nuclear Genie in the bottle is obviously now being used to slow this great military power – to keep the Sino giant bottled up, so to speak. I believe it is a powerful example of God’s Restraining Hand. The following excerpt might further enlighten.

Taiwan’s foreign minister said last week that the US and Taiwan are in talks on the possibility of the island being brought under Washington’s nuclear umbrella, a step that would make a catastrophic war between the US and China much more likely.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu made the comments before Taiwan’s parliament, the Legislative Yuan. Wu declined to detail the talks when pressed if Taiwan had asked the US to bring the island into its nuclear umbrella.

“Regarding the discussion of this issue with the United States, it is not suitable for me to make it public here,” Wu said, according to The South China Morning Post.

Many of the US’s allies are considered to be under the protection of the US nuclear umbrella, including Japan, South Korea, and every member of NATO. Giving such a guarantee to Taiwan would mean the US could use nuclear weapons if China invades the island or if war breaks out by other means. [Source: Taiwan Says It’s in Talks on Being Brought Under US Nuclear Umbrella – Taiwan’s foreign minister declined to share details about the talks, by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, May 28, 2023]

As stated in the above news analysis, it is feared that America’s thinking on including Taiwan under America’s nuclear protective umbrella will provoke the future King of the kings of the east to start a war leading to nuclear Armageddon. But I see it as the Holy Spirit doing His Restraining Work.

The Chinese communists were becoming aggressive to the point of doing something reckless and invading with conventional force. Being so near their target in proximity, they could have perhaps gotten ahead of their prophesied role as the hegemonic King of the region.

America, uncharacteristically of this particular president, is now thinking of making Taiwan a protectorate under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Therefore, once again, that nuclear Genie hasn’t gotten out of the bottle because even CCP dictators don’t want to be incinerated in a nuclear holocaust.

In my view of things, this prophesied force of mass destruction – the Sino giant – is thereby Restrained by the Hand of God, using a weak presidential administration to do the Restraining.

It is exciting, not troubling, to see the Holy Spirit at Work, and doing so with ease. It is a Mighty God we serve, indeed.

All this points, of course, to the soon removal of the Restrainer from Planet Earth – at least removal in regard to the level He is Restraining at present. Wherever the Holy Spirit goes, believers in whom He dwells go. It’s exciting because we are talking about Rapture being very soon!

 

 

It’s not a question parents have to ask kids like I was while growing up. I was always hungry, so the question was one I didn’t hear until I was probably fully grown and married. Now the question’s as common as: What would you like for dinner? Or, here in the South: What’s for supper?

“Are you hungry yet?” seems a uniquely adult question, posed in anticipation of engaging in an almost ritualistic exercise—that of sitting down to a meal that, in many cases, includes family and/or friends in enjoyable fellowship around the table.

Children sometimes have to be ordered to stop playing—more digital games these days than outdoors play like in the past—in order to get them to eat. Adults—those not so addicted to the same cyberspace pursuits—grow hungry through the sights and aromas that tell them suppertime is at hand. The stomachs rumble a bit, the salivary glands kick in, the brain sounds the dinner bell, and off we go to the supper table.

And, yes, I’m sadly aware that in today’s America, family dinner is often consumed while each diner sits at his or her own meal while continuing to engage in whatever entertainment he or she chooses. I’m thinking nostalgically, I suppose, considering how things used to be and how I wish they would continue.

As poor as the choice of segway I’ve used here might be, I hope it might help us think about how the sights, sounds, aromas, etc., of this present hour are acting upon our senses that alert us to spiritual hunger.

Particularly, I want to turn to thoughts of how near we are to one special meal that will have us all sitting at one table—perhaps my nostalgic wish fulfilled, exponentially.

So, the question again is: “Are you hungry yet?” Do you sense that spiritual burn somewhere deep within that says it’s almost suppertime?

The sounds, sights, smells, and every condition surrounding us at this moment should alert us that Heaven is about to call us to that great supper. Despite the vile, end-times odors that offend, God’s prophetic Word acts as a filter so the student of Bible prophecy can smell the cooking from Heaven’s kitchen.

We’ve covered the senses-offending matters for a long time now. Each of the things Jesus and the prophets foretold are heating to the point of becoming painful to endure: Israel on the verge of war for survival, with pressures to give God’s Land for peace; the powerful drive for a global New World Order; the deceivers and great deception; wars and rumors of war; the development of AI and other technologies that threaten to enslave; the reprobate evil that is Sodom-like, with even some Christian pastors and churches refusing to resist—all tell us that Great Supper is at hand.

I write this, of course, especially in regard to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. So let’s look at that magnificent heavenly feast that awaits.

Although there are differing views on this event, which will bring all believers together at the Lord’s table, I believe Dr. Thomas Ice has it right. He is the head of the PreTrib Study Group that meets annually at Dallas. This is the conference established by Dr. Tim LaHaye and Dr. Ice, of which I remain a member.

Many believe the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is the same event as the Marriage of the Lamb. Dr. Ice correctly interprets God’s prophetic Word in this regard.

“‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.’ And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen are the righteous acts of the saints. And he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, “These are true words of God” (Revelation 19:7-9).

It is at this point that many Christians today often confuse the marriage of the Lamb with the marriage supper of the Lamb. But they are two separate events that occur at two different times in history. Revelation 19:9 says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” This passage clearly has a forward look anticipating a future time. It cannot refer to anyone in heaven since the church (the bride) is the only redeemed entity in heaven. However, after the second coming when believers from other ages will be resurrected (Dan. 12:2) along with tribulation saints, both mortal and resurrected ones (Rev. 20:4), these will be the invited guest who will be guests at this celebration supper. I believe that the marriage supper will be during the first part of the millennial reign of Christ. Fruchtenbaum says:

Hence, the “many” who are bidden to attend the marriage feast on earth are all the Old Testament saints and the Tribulation saints resurrected after the Second Coming. While the marriage ceremony will take place in heaven, the marriage feast will take place on earth after the Second Coming. In fact, it would seem that the marriage feast is what begins the Millennium or the Messianic Kingdom; the Church’s co-reigning with the Messiah will start with a tremendous marriage feast. (Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps of the Messiah, p. 597)

Though the marriage of the Lamb to His bride (the church) and the marriage supper of the Lamb are closely related, they are separate events, just as the wedding ceremony and the wedding reception of our day are separate events. In fact, these two events are often held at two different locations, just as the marriage of the Lamb will be in heaven right before the second coming (Rev. 19), while the marriage supper of the Lamb will commence with the beginning of the millennium. (“The Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Dr. Thomas Ice, www.pre-trib.org)

There is so much involved in this coming gathering of all the saints of the ages that the differences of opinion are myriad in trying to know all details. Suffice it to say that it will be a grand and glorious coming together of a family more intimate than that of the best gathering human families have ever enjoyed.

You can almost smell the heavenly cuisine being prepared, can’t you?

Are you hungry yet?